We've made it halfway through the four unbearably tense matches in 18 days between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and now we know that these games aren't just pitting Spain's two best football clubs against each other, but the two highest-paid sports team in the world. Yes, according to SportingIntelligence.com, the two Spanish giants with their massive TV contracts and dizzying collection of international superstars have overtaken the New York Yankees as the teams that throw the most cash at their players.
From Sporting Intelligence's report on the matter:
The average first team pay at Barcelona has been calculated at �95,081 [$152,130] per player per week, or �4,944,211 [$7,910,737] per year in the period under review. Real Madrid's players in No2 place earned �88,421 [$141,474] per week (�4.6m [or $7.4m] per year) while first-team stars at the Yankees, at No3, will earn an average of �81,206 [$129,929] per man per week in the 2011 season, or �4.2m [$6.8m] per year.
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Following the news that Real Madrid became the highest-earning sports team ever, this development probably shouldn't come as a surprise and once the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules come into effect, this could prove to be a short-lived reign at the top.
Following the Yankees on the list are the NBA pair of the L.A. Lakers and the Orlando Magic, then come double winners Chelsea and treble winners Inter Milan. Here's the full top 12...
The number of European football clubs on the list just edge out the number of NBA franchises by a tally of five to four while the locked out NFL is nowhere to be found in the top 12. Surely the Yankees will take this as a challenge, though, and offer $4 billion for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Photo: Getty
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