The soccer club Real Madrid is the world's highest earning sports team ever, earning more than $592 million US Dollars (USD) in 2010 — more than 30 percent more than the New York Yankees. The income comes just about equally from three sources — broadcasting, match days and commercials.
More facts about high-priced sports:
- The next highest-earning sports teams in the world in 2010 were FC Barcelona, followed by Manchester United followed and the New York Yankees.
- Though the Yankees are the fourth in revenue, they are the first in spending — the annual average salary for a first-string Yankees player is about $7 million USD.
- Real Madrid, the second highest spender in sports, isn't far behind — the average salary of their first string players is a little over $6 million USD, but they broke sports records by spending $120 million USD in transfer fees to get Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.