What do you want to be when you grow up?

Pose this question to average grade schoolers and chances are at least a handful will respond by saying professional athlete. In fact, when adults were asked about their childhood dream job, playing professional sports topped the list for about 1 in 6 (17%) men.¹

Aspirations for a career doing something you love is just part of it — there’s also big financial wins at the top of the game. As the world of sports has evolved, many of today’s professional athletes are not only playing at the highest level in sports they’re passionate about, but surrounded by fame — and lots and lots of fortune. Sports is big business and it’s getting bigger: The industry currently generates $159 billion in annual revenue, and it’s expected to reach $260 billion by 2033.² Women’s athletics, which historically have represented a fraction of the market, are on a growth streak and poised to generate more than $1.28 billion this year.³ The numbers continue to balloon, and with them, the cash incentives to win.

Power players

While the thrill and excitement of watching the best of the best, or the regional pride for a championship team can be a pay-off for spectators, the rewards for champion players are more tangible. On top of often sizeable salaries and lucrative endorsements, today’s professional athletes have the opportunity to score large — and in certain instances, the largest ever — prize purses in some major sports tournaments.

🎾 Racquet brackets: The world’s biggest tennis tournament, the U.S. Open, paid out its largest purse in the history of the game in 2024. The Grand Slam, which generates about $514 million in revenue, divides the $75 million cash prize among players: The biggest advantage goes to the men’s and women’s singles champions, who each take $3.6 million, while first-round losers in singles are lobbed a guaranteed $100,000, up 72% from 2019, simply for being there.⁴

⛳ Green on the green: The PGA Tour awarded nearly $400 million in prize money in 2024, with the U.S. Open, the richest of the men’s majors, distributing $21.5 million.⁵ The Tour Championship doles out more yet: The top 30 players competed for a share of the $100 million FedEx bonus pool, up $25 million this year and the largest in PGA Tour history.⁶

🏀 Bonus slam-dunk: Not only do NBA players earn the highest salaries in U.S. professional sports, they’re guaranteed an “and one”: A chunk of the $33.7 million end-of season bonus is divvied up among the teams based on how far they go, and then allocated to players.⁷ Although there’s no special purse for season champions, the team that wins the NBA Finals receives about 79% of the total bonus, which amounted to roughly $804,000 per player for the 2024 title-winning Boston Celtics.⁸ 

🧢 Grand prize home run: Players in the show who make it to Major League Baseball’s World Series can be in for a grand finale: Winners collect a prize payout of around $500,000 per player based on a bonus pool drawn from roughly 60% of playoff gate receipts.⁹ The highest bonus prize on record was $516,337 per player, which went to the 2022 World Series champion Houston Astros team.¹⁰

🏈 Super score: Vince Lombardi Trophy or not, players who make it to the Super Bowl can count on a cash award from the league. Winners of Super Bowl 58 were eligible for a $164,000 bonus, $7,000 more than the prior year, and losers were eligible for $89,000.¹¹ Ultimately, the amount each player receives depends on how long they’ve been in the league and their status on the roster. Winners of the 2025 Super Bowl are expected to get about $171,000 in bonus payments.¹²

🥇 Olympic gold: Prize purses made their way to the Olympics for the first time in 2024, with the World Athletics Federation awarding $2.4 million to gold medalists in Track and Field at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.¹³ Though the purse isn’t as high as some others, the practice of giving cash prizes to Olympians is a pivotal change that will extend to silver and bronze champions in 2028, and potentially to other Olympic sports in the future.

Consumer careers and curveball

Though the dream of playing professionally may be out of reach for the average sports enthusiast, working close to the action could be the next best thing. In 2023, the sports tourism industry created more than 750,000 full- and part-time jobs.

Love of the game comes at a cost though, and fans are loosening their own purse strings to support their favorite pastimes. The Consumer Price Index showed a 15.1% increase in the cost of admission to sporting events as of mid-year 2024 compared with 2023. Still, more than 1 in 3 (35%) Americans are willing to splurge on sports and live entertainment while traveling according to Empower research, and direct spending for sports tourism exceeded $52 billion in 2023.

Spending doesn’t stop with viewership either. Even with the revenues the industry generates, the public still absorbs some of the financing costs for sports stadiums. Taxpayers have helped foot $750 million of the $3.3 billion bill for stadium construction in the U.S. since 2020.¹⁴

Spectator sports

Even with ticket prices on the rise, 2023 saw record attendance in some sports, including the NBA, NHL, and the tennis US Open. Watching from home may be a more affordable option for those seeking financial peace of mind, although more than a third (36%) of Americans say service subscriptions like TV streaming options are a luxury according to Empower research.