Argentine great Lionel Messi has dethroned an NBA living legend as the most marketable athlete.
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What's the story?
Inter Miami and Argentina captain Lionel Messi has overtaken Los Angeles Lakers talisman LeBron James as the most marketable athlete in the world.
In a sports most marketable athletes list put together by Sports Pro, it's been revealed that 22 of the top 50 athletes are footballers, and these ballers hold four of the top 10 spots.
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Let's take a closer look...
Messi Surpasses NBA Great
Eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi tops the latest rankings of the Most Marketable Athletes in the world.
Messi surpasses legendary basketball superstar LeBron James for the number one spot. The top 50 list is dominated by footballers, with Messi being followed by Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Kylian Mbappe.
Robert Lewandowski and Alphonso Davies make up the rest of the ballers in the top 20, as Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka sit above five-time Ballon d'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neymar Jr, Luis Suarez, Erling Haaland, Thiago Silva, Son Heung-Min, Mohamed Salah, Marcus Rashford, Mapi Leon, and Sam Kerr make up the 22 footballers in the top 50 Most Marketable Athletes list.
????| BREAKING: Lionel Messi has surpassed LeBron James as the most marketable athlete in the world.
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) March 13, 2024
[@SportsPro] pic.twitter.com/ly93PSGyvv
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How is this list conducted?
The 36-year-old is widely regarded as football's greatest player of all time in and the ex-FC Barcelona wiz, was highly ranked in several areas that factor into his ranking.
As per, 365scores.com and Sports Pro, The Total Marketability Score of an athlete is summed in three categories: Total Addressable Market, Athlete Brand Strength, and ECON- Triple Bottom Line.
Messi scored high in all three, boasting a brand strength of 30.45/35, 44.35/45 for his Total Addressable Market and Econ score of 20/20. Overall, Leo has an almost perfect marketability score of 94.81/100.
???? @SportsPro’s most marketable athlete ranking of 2023.
— Max Stéph (@maxstephh) March 13, 2024
1- Lionel Messi
2- Lebron James
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16- Lewandowski
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26- Bukayo Saka
27- Cristiano Ronaldo
Bot followers on Instagram really fooled no one ?? pic.twitter.com/M1YF3ubXKZ
The Total Addressable Market factors in an athlete's overall reach, audience engagement, sport-team awareness, athlete awareness, and sponsor awareness, among others. Messi has already surpassed 500 million followers on Instagram alone, contributing hugely to his reach in multiple markets.
His on pitch performances for Inter Miami, PSG, winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the most recent Ballon d'Or accolade has made Messi's Athlete Brand Strength much higher, as fans continue to admire his constant push for greatness.
Messi's foundation as well as his work with UNICEF (Global Ambassador) also helped increase his brand strength.
Messi's scores highly on the ECON- Triple Bottom Line due to his social media following, that entices brands to work with him, his enormous global reach and rather significant in-sport earnings.
Leo sits second in Forbes' 2023 Highest Paid athletes list, with a reported net worth of $130 million (R2.4 billion).
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