CONOR McGREGOR may make a bigger song and dance about his multiple revenue streams…but Rory McIlroy actually led the way in business earnings among Irish sports stars in 2022.
While you probably don’t need us to tell you about The Notorious’ multi-faceted involvement in the drinks trade via his Proper 12 whiskey or his ownership of three Dublin pubs, McIlroy keeps a lower profile regarding his other financial pursuits.
The four-time major champion possesses a varied business portfolio ranging from his venture capital firm Symphony Ventures to sports entertainment company TMRW Sports.
He co-founded the latter with Tiger Woods in a bid to devise ways to modernise the fairly set in its ways sport of golf amid the looming threat posed by the LIV Tour.
Anyone who follows the 33-year-old on Instagram can also attest to him being a passionate investor in sleep health technology Whoop.
This mix of business interests are clearly topping up his already healthy bank balance as thanks to a study by sports data company OLBG, we now know where both men rank among their fellow superstars in this regard.
Across 2022, McIlroy came in as the 14th biggest earner excluding monies accumulated directly through each man or woman’s respective sport.
His business-associated total was €34m. McGregor meanwhile ranked 27th with €10m made outside of MMA.
Somewhat surprisingly, Roger Federer bested soccer’s top duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for top spot overall.
Although he brought the curtain down on his iconic tennis career last year, the Swiss banked a mammoth €90m in other earnings.
Woods, LeBron James and another tennis star in Naomi Osaka rounded out the top five.
HUGE US MARKET
Despite basketball and American football not being generally regarded as giant global sports, the rest of the list is largely dominated by US sports figures from the NBA and NFL.
Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson all feature.
As do splash brothers Steph Curry and Klay Thompson as well as former MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.