How today’s MotoGP rider salaries compare to Valentino Rossi’s big-money deals

Valentino Rossi has been retired for two years but remains the benchmark for earnings in MotoGP.
How today’s MotoGP rider salaries compare to Valentino Rossi’s big-money deals

The legend with seven premier class championships earned sums during his glory yeꩵars which are far in🀅 excess of any of today’s riders - or any other rider in history.

Rossi pocketed €30m per year in 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to , at♑ the peak of his powers and fame.

In 2012💮, Rossi was the🎐 20th highest-earning sportsperson in the world with a total earning of $30m.

In 2015, he was named the 14th highest-earning sꦬportsperson over the course of the previous decade, with a total earning of&nbs♔p;$275m.

Thatܫ was, and remains, unprecedented territory for a MotoGജP rider.

Even wh🐷en age caught up with him in 2020, one of his worst-ever racing years, Rossi’s earnings totalled €140m - through race prizes, sponsors, earnings from Yamaha, personal merchandise and other businesses to which he was connected.

He was paid only €7m by Yamaha in 2020, a very small wage by his considerable standards, reflec🎶ting his competitiveness at the time. That reduced to €4m in his final year in 2021.

Today Rossi’s companies generate a profit🔯 of €8m per year.

Valentino Rossi, MotoGP, Spanish MotoGP sprint race, 29 April
Valentino Rossi, MotoGP, Spanish MotoGP sprint race, 29 April

The highest-ea🅠rner in MotoGP today is Marc Marquez.

H🌠e pockets €12.5m per year from Honda, 🎐on a contract which runs until the end of 2024, report.

But his total annual earnings 💮are €40m thanks to his other sponsorships f🐻rom major brands.

These were the annual salaries of every MotoGP rider in 2022, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport:

By contrast, the highꦆest-paid♛ in the list of F1 driver salaries is reportedly Max Verstappen ($55m / £45m).

While Lewis Hamilton is in the process of negotiati𓃲ng a new Mercedes contract which could reportedly be 🌜worth £40m per year.

Verstappen and Hamilton were the only motorsports representatives on the recent list of the 50 highesไt-paid athletes in the world, by .

The lowest on the list was NFL legend Tom Brady whose🅰 total e🦋arnings from May 2022 to May 2023 were $45.2m, meaning no MotoGP rider earned more than that.

James was a sports journal🧸ist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.

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