Slideshow: Money-saving tips for sports fans
Unlike NBA, MLB, NFL stars, Williams can continue in his career despite his advanced age. At 50, Williams plans to continue bowling for the foreseeable future. Bowling has produced other multimillionaires such as former PBA Tour champion Pete Weber. Weber has earned more than $3.2 million in his playing career.
Darts
Phil Taylor is as popular in England as Michael Jordan is in the United States. Taylor has won an impressive 15 Professional Dart Championships (PDC) and more than 150 professional tournaments throughout his illustrious career. Taylor has been rewarded handsomely for winning 15 of the last 21 PDC Championships, earning more than $5 million pounds (or $7.7 million dollars) in career earnings.
Table tennis
Table tennis is full of great players such as Ma Long and Wang Hao of China. Long and Hao, respectively, are the No. 1 and 2 ranked players in the world. They have both won the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) Pro Tour Grand Finals Championship. Their reward for winning first place in the ITTF Men’s Singles Championship was $40,000.
Table tennis players can win purses ranging from $2,800 to $33,000 for winning tournaments during the season.
Skateboarding
Do you think skateboarding is just a fad? Well, tell that to Tony Hawk, Paul Rodriguez Jr. and Ryan Sheckler. Hawk has built a multimillion-dollar empire on the action sport. He is the highest-paid extreme sports star, generating $12 million dollars a year in income, according to Forbes. Hawk makes money on everything, including skateboards, clothing apparel and video games.
Skateboarder Ryan Sheckler earned $5 million in 2008 and scored a reality show on MTV. Paul Rodriguez Jr. is one of the most popular skateboarders going. P-Rod earned more than $2 million dollars and has his own Nike shoe and a clothing line. P-Rod has been featured in Tony Hawk video games as well.
Cricket
Cricket players now make the salaries of NFL, NBA and MLB players. The highest-paid cricket player in the world, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, makes more than $10 million a year. He recently signed a two-year, $42 million dollar marketing deal to endorse numerous different products.
Dhoni is not alone. Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar earned more than $8 million last year. According to Forbes, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is home to nine of the richest cricket players in the world. Each player’s salary is much more than a million dollars a season. These players make as much as $100,000 per three-hour contest.
Fishing
Who knew that there was big money in fishing? Three-time Bassmaster Classic champ Kevin VanDam has made more than $4.7 million in earnings throughout his career. FLW Champ David Dudley has made more than $2 million during his pro career. Angler Skeet Reese has accumulated $2.3 million during his 13-year career. Michael Iaconelli and Gerald Swindle are millionaire anglers as well.
The bottom line
As you can see, you don’t have to play one of the major sports to strike it rich. There are lots of athletes that toil away in obscurity and manage to eke out a pretty good living.
