Just how much do sports stars really earn?

Sportsmen/women. They show some talent for a pastime, put in some training and then get paid ridiculous sums to perform in front of thousands of us regular folk.
But is it actually that simple?
While there is indeed money in most sports and those at the highest end earn wages most of us could only dream of, the majority of professionals in the world of sport are pulling in much more ordinary salaries according to a studies over the last few years.
Starting with football, Britain’s biggest cash cow of a sport. The Premier League of course rakes in (and thus, pays out) millions. Business analysts Deloitte showed in their most recent figures that the top flight’s total wage bill surpassed £1.3billion in 2008/09.
With an increase of around £132million from 2007/08, the current figure in 2012/13 is likely closer to two billion. And even squad players are minted, despite their limited appearances: the average Premier League salary was £21,600 a week - £1.1million a year – four seasons ago.

But while even the Championship and SPL are able to pay their players an average of £275,000 a year, reaching these levels and staying there is the hard part.
Players must emerge through a network of 38,000 amateur and semi-professional clubs from ages as young as 12, earning apprenticeship wages as little as £80 a week until they are 18, and hoping to not end up as one of the near-300 professionals at any one time on the PFA’s Transfer Directory without a club (or income).
While cricket is not on football’s level, things have picked up in recent times. The English Cricket Board have awarded central contracts since 2002, allowing the best players relief from county duties to represent their county.
In recent seasons, 11 players had one-year central contracts worth £400,000 while seven squad players had £250,000 deals. That’s not including win bonuses, appearance fees etc…
Australia’s Test cricketers can match those kind of figures, but other nations struggle. Showings from cricket bible Wisden show Pakistan players are on contracts for around £22,500 a year while the fallout of the nation’s betting scandal taught us that players such as bowler Mohammad Amir earn just £1,300 a month.
That’s still more than Bangladesh cricketers, who sign central contracts worth as little as £12,000.
The first annual Review of Global Sports Salaries by Sporting Intelligence showed that the Indian Premier League is the place to be, with three teams including Royal Challengers Bangalore ranked among the world’s highest payers.
Rugby Union has come a long way since going professional in 1995, but still cannot match the rewards of football or even cricket.
A sport in which even its stars required day jobs for many moons, the 2004 milestone agreement which saw the Rugby Players Association sign a four year deal to pay for match fees and image rights on behalf of the England national side was renewed in 2008 for £20million, leading to improved combined match fees and win bonuses of £12,000 a game.
Jonny Wilkinson continued to rake it in by escaping the English £4million salary cap per club, joining Toulon in France’s Top 14 league – where wage bills are more around the eight-figure mark. Irish and Welsh clubs are believed to be spending about £7million a year in total.
But the majority of club players in England start on £20,000 a year, hoping to earn their way to figures around 10 times that at the very highest end of the domestic game.
Horse racing utilises a very old-school style structure, one familiar with many sports a long time ago, where aspiring jockeys begin working as stable grooms on about £12,000 a year before striving to make it as jockeys.
And if they do have what it takes, Racing Post figures show that champion jockey AP McCoy earned £370,000 in this year’s jump jockeys season while Paddy Brennan, the 10^th best jockey, took home £127,000.
And when it comes to flat racing, big overseas events such as the Dubai World Cup enable Ryan Moore to top the UK rankings with prize money so far this year around £3.2million. And the season ends in November.
Snooker, meanwhile, has seen its earnings decline over the years. Though top 16-ranked players earn between £60k and £100k thanks to guaranteed entry into major tournaments, and world-renowned stars such as Ronnie O’Sullivan enjoy lucrative side-earnings from exhibitions and endorsements, those lower down on the totem pole like Pakistan’s cricketers and the average British working employee earn around £25,000 per annum.