OPINION: The list for the top 100 highest-paid athletes of 2025 has been revealed, and for the third straight year, no women are featured. My thoughts on that sentence? 

It is absolute bullshit. 

That’s not a quirk or an oversight. This is a systemic failure, and it’s getting embarrassing. 

Christiano Ronaldo, to no surprise, topped the list, having earned around $450M NZD last year. Canelo Alvarez was second and Lionel Messi third. The rest is the usual mix of NBA and NFL superstars, sprinkling in some football, golf, and F1. 

Now, here’s the part that should make you pretty pissed off. 

Coco Gauff, the 21-year-old tennis phenom, was the highest-earning female athlete of 2025. She is a Grand Slam champion and one of the most marketable athletes in the world.

Her take-home was $57 million in 2025, which wouldn't even crack the top 120. 

That is completely unacceptable, and it sure doesn’t mean she isn’t good enough. 

What actually props up women’s earnings right now is endorsements. About 70 percent of the income for the top female athletes comes from sponsorships. For men, it’s roughly half that. The rest comes from salaries, prize money, and league pay.

Look, before you jump down my throat, I can already see the argument. 

“Women’s sports don’t bring nearly as much revenue as men”, or “get people watching, and they’ll get paid”. 

Except that argument ignores decades of reality.

The reason women’s sports are not on par with men’s sports in terms of revenue and viewership is not the fault of the athletes. 

For one, women had a much lower starting point, having to fight for a chance to even play sports in the first place. 

Since then, women in sport have constantly fought a lack of resources and funding, constant comparison to their male counterparents, underepresentation and oversexualisation. 

You don’t get to starve something of oxygen for decades and then complain it doesn’t burn as bright.

And here is the kicker - people ARE watching now. 

We are seeing a “significant rise in digital consumption of leading global women’s sports properties, growing at a faster rate than the men’s equivalent". 

There are compelling numbers both here in NZ and around the world.

Just last year at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Black Ferns absolutely blew up the Internet and had record attendance at their games.

In 2023, when we co-hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the buzz was out-the-gate, with both record-breaking viewership and attendance.

Globally, it’s the same story. 

In 2025, the Netball Super League viewing hours increased by more than 300%, the Women’s 4x100 relay drew a peak audience of 1.95 million at the World Athletics Championships, the average audience for the women’s AIG Open (golf) was up 18%, and the women’s EURO final had a peak audience of 16.22 million. 

McKinsey & Company performed a study on where the women’s sports sector is headed, and the results were striking. 

Between 2022 and 2024, “revenue from women’s sports grew 4.5 times faster than that of men’s sports”. 

They also found that women’s sports could generate at least 2.5 billion in value for rights holders in the US by 2030. 

So, let’s stop pretending this is about demand. 

The demand is here. The talent has always been here. The effort, discipline and performance have never been in question. 

What’s missing is the will to pay women like their work actually matters.

There is no universe where the best female athletes on earth are less deserving of fair pay than the 100th-highest-paid man. Not in skill. Not in commitment. Not in cultural impact.

Leaving women out of the top 100 highest-paid athletes list isn’t just outdated. It’s indefensible.

And frankly, it’s bullshit.