BY SI WIRE
French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain is the best paid team in global sport, according to a survey conducted by Sportingintelligence’s Global Sports and ESPN The Magazine.
The survey features 333 teams in 17 major pro leagues, comprising players that make almost $18 billion in salary conbined.
The average player on PSG, which plays in France’s Ligue 1, makes an average of $9.1 million a year, about $500,000 more than the second team on the survey, La Liga’s Real Madrid.
• Forbes: Real Madrid is the world’s most valuable soccer team
Manchester City ($8.6 million per player) of the Premier League is third in the survey, followed by newly-crowned La Liga champions Barcelona ($8.1 million per player) and MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, whose players take home $8 million a year on average.
The Dodgers have the highest total payroll of the teams surveyed, at $272.8 million for the 2015 season.
Five Premier League teams are in the top 20 (Manchester United at No. 6, Chelsea at No. 8, Arsenal at No. 10 and Liverpool at No. 14), while six MLB teams and five NBA teams made the top 20.
MLB’s New York Yankees, who were second in last year’s survey, dropped to ninth in 2015, with an average player salary of $7.3 million.
• MORE: 2015 Dodgers set MLB payroll record
The NBA is the world’s highest-paying league, with players earning an average of $4.58 million for the 2014-15 season.
The NFL’s Miami Dolphins, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past six seasons, have the league’s highest-paid players, averaging $2.3 million in salary.
Super Bowl Champion New England comes in at No. 156 in the survey, with players making an average of $2.1 million.