hmm, I think it's much more to do with sponsorship deals than the salary cap.

Based on the reported salaries here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3913302/Cristiano-Ronaldo-declares-got-10-years-left-Real-Madrid-star-pens-new-five-year-365-000-week-deal.html http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/heat-index/2016/06/10/nfls-highest-paid-quarterbacks-2016-rankings/85668926/

Ronaldo and Andrew Luck would both be on around £18.98m with current exchange rates. So that's just a huge difference in endorsement money rather than just the salaries that make it up.

Who cares we dont see any of that money

Michael Jordan should be number one if they included retired athletes.

Federer is the no. 1 in my heart.

The Portuguese doesn't stop.

Conor mcgregor breaks into the top 25! A long way from his 60G's BABY moment! Rory McIlroy also up very high. The small island of Ireland well represented :)

I'm assuming the list is from the last 12 months? Federer won a Grand Slam and I think 3 Masters this year, and Djokovic didn't win that much besides Roland Garros last year, and I think he's won nothing this year thus far.

Federer is making a comeback baby!

It's amazing how much basketball has exploded in popularity around the globe since the end of the 21st century and and the '92 Dream Team.
LeBron, K.D., Steph, and all those guys wouldn't even be sniffing a fraction of that money had it not been for guys like Magic, Bird, and, of course, Michael paving the way, breaking through, and becoming as big of icons as they did.

And Steph is making just 12 million a year right now off his current contract with the Golden State Warriors, which expires THIS offseason.

Not sure if serious

Exactly my thoughts.