2022’s Highest Paid Athletes and How Many Sacks of Crawfish They Can Buy

Forbes released the 2022 highest paid athletes of the year last week, and instead of just giving you the list, what if they came to Louisiana and spent all that years-long earned money on something awesome, like crawfish, cracklin or a new four wheeler?

Forbes 2022 Highest Paid Athletes

In 2022, the ten highest paid athletes brought in just shy of a BILLION dollars in earnings. That's not what each of them are worth, as collectively they're worth multiple billions, but just this year alone. All together they earned a combined $991.5 million.

As per usual, you'll see there are three soccer players on the list. Lionel Messi (#1), arguably the greatest soccer player to ever do it, Cristiano Ronoldo (#3) and Neymar Jr. (#4). The rest of the list is pretty diverse in the sports that they play.

With the release of Forbes ten highest paid athletes every year, it can get a little repetitive, for the most part. So, why not think of it a little differently this year?

What if these ten people came to South Louisiana and really had themselves a time? Instead of how many houses or cars or businesses they could buy, what if they bought pounds of cracklin, sacks of crawfish, or a brand spanking new four wheeler to really delve into the culture?

With a little research, the average for live crawfish right now is about $2.50 per pound. With an average of 31.5 pounds per sack, that puts each sack at about $78.50.

Cracklin run an average of about $24.50 per pound.

For the four wheeler, a 2022 Honda FourTrax Foreman 4x4 has a base MSRP of $7,499. 

2022's Highest Paid Athletes and How Many Sacks of Crawfish They Can Buy

10. Giannis Antetokounmpo — $80.9 million ($39.9 million on-court, $41 million off-court)

Giannis could afford:

3,302,041 pounds of cracklin

1,027,302 sacks of crawfish

10,788 Honda four wheelers

9. Tom Brady — $83.9 million ($31.9 million on-field, $52 million off-field)

TB12 could afford:

3,424,490 pounds of cracklin

1,065,397 sacks of crawfish

11,188 Honda four wheelers

8. Canelo Alvarez — $90 million ($85 million in-ring, $5 million out of the ring)

Canelo could afford:

3,673,469 pounds of cracklin

1,142,857 sacks of crawfish

12,002 Honda four wheelers

7. Roger Federer — $90.7 million ($0.7 million on-court, $90 million off-court)

Despite not really playing tennis, Roger could afford:

3,702,041 pounds of cracklin

1,151,746 sacks of crawfish

12,095 Honda four wheelers

6. Kevin Durant — $92.1 million ($42.1 million on-court, $50 million off-court)

KD could afford:

3,759,184 pounds of cracklin

1,1169,524 sacks of crawfish

12,282 Honda four wheelers

5. Stephen Curry — $92.8 million ($45.8 million on-court, $47 million off-court)

Steph could afford:

3,787,755 pounds of cracklin

1,178,413 sacks of crawfish

12,375 Honda four wheelers

4. Neymar Jr. — $95 million ($70 million on-field, $25 million off-filed)

Neymar could afford:

3,877,551 pounds of cracklin

1,206,349 sacks of crawfish

12,668 Honda four wheelers

3. Cristiano Ronaldo — $115 million ($60 million on-field, $55 million off-field)

Cristiano could afford:

4,693,878 pounds of cracklin

1,460,318 sacks of crawfish

15,335 Honda four wheelers

2. LeBron James — $121.2 million ($41.2 million on-court, $80 million off-court)

LeBron could afford:

4,946,939 pounds of cracklin

1,539,048 sacks of crawfish

16,162 Honda four wheelers

1. Lionel Messi — $130 million ($75 million on-field, $55 million off-field)

Leo could afford:

5,306,123 pounds of cracklin

1,650,794 sacks of crawfish

17,336 Honda four wheelers

How Big is the Gap?

For a little context, this means that Lionel Messi can buy 585,397 more sacks of crawfish than Tom Brady based on 2022 earnings alone! If we all went to your favorite meat supply store, LeBron James could buy 1,644,898 more pounds of cracklin than Giannis Antetokounmpo. And Messi could buy 6,548 more Honda four wheelers than Giannis. That's not to say that Giannis isn't rich, it's just the spending power of Messi that is hard to fathom.

Also, remember...that's just in ONE YEAR!