Filed under: Motorsports
Move over Kobe, Michael Schumacher's got you beat
Ferrari reportedly
offered F1 driver Michael Schumacher a HUGE $86.6 million check to stick around through 2008, which, if true, makes
Mike the highest paid sports figure on the planet. If Schumacher cashes the check he'll be beating himself
out for the title (he's already the highest paid sportsman).
Ferrari's F1 arm no doubt wants the
lion's share attention from the 580 million viewers around the globe who are anxiously awaiting his John Hancock on the
deal, which could arrive as early as next weekend. Not bad for a guy who won seven world championships, eh?
All we've got to say is we want to be like Mike...
[Source: Planet-F1 via Edmunds Inside Line]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Presto 3:53PM (4/28/2006)
$86 million will buy you a lot of ramen noodles.
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Bocephus 4:08PM (4/28/2006)
According to Forbes, Tiger Woods made $87 billion last year. I think that makes him richer. Also, Tiger is married to a Swedish super model. Advantage Tiger.
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Jim 4:16PM (4/28/2006)
If FORD was on the ball, they would import the Fiesta to the US, and halp with the gas crunch and exorbitantly high gas prices. Or, they could import the Diesel version of the Focus to the US.
The US needs practical, low cost, fuel misers right now.
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Vexorg 4:21PM (4/28/2006)
Guess we have Ferrari's answer to the Kimi Raikkonen rumors that have been floating around...
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Poe 4:21PM (4/28/2006)
Are you feeling OK, Jim?
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Ford Mustang 4:27PM (4/28/2006)
That's sick. Good for him.
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Grant Guthrie 5:32PM (4/28/2006)
Schumy has always been the highest "salaried" sportsman/athlete (This 86 mil over 2 years does not include endorsements). Kobe's not even close, not even the highest payed basketball player. He was making 40 mil a year previously, so this is just a 3 mil/year raise.
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myself 5:36PM (4/28/2006)
I know that he is the best driver in F1 but com on $86 million!!! To much!!!!!!!!
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SoloTwo 7:06PM (4/28/2006)
87 billion huh?
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Kwyjibo 7:32PM (4/28/2006)
i couldn't think of anyone more deserving of such a high salary.
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Swanny 8:14PM (4/28/2006)
Maybe its 87 billion rupees or something.
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JIm 8:19PM (4/28/2006)
Once in awhile I weigh in on the heavy matters discussed at Autoblog. I would publicly like to distance myself from the Jim in # 3...I am not that person. That Jim clearly has a little too much stress in his life. Jim Bo...take a deep breath, pull the throttles back to idle and chill. Don't forget your meds.
Several years ago, when Michael's salary plus endorcements was "only" $126M, 60 minutes did a feature on him. Said he could be the sports worlds first Billionare. Michael just shrugged. At the time he was getting $2M / year just to wear that red ball cap.
Personally he's worth whatever he can get, and no, it's not "too much." None of my damn business how much money he can get for himself. He doesn't have as much raw talent as Senna, but he's a class act in front of the cameras.
And you are aware Michael was the largest individual contributor to the relief effort in SE Asia after the earth quake...$10M. Didn't hear that in the news I'll bet.
Personally I do enjoy making light to American football (gridiron to the rest of the world)/basketball/baseball fans when they indicate how much their favorite star is getting paid. My normal response is "chickenfeed." They ALWAYS get the "deer in the headlights" look when I say Michael Schumacher. "Who's that," usually follows. I also the normally chime in with a sport that has the highest number of viewers of any sporting event in the world on a weekly basis, usually between 250-300 million viewers per race. I almost barfed when Scott Speed gave his first interview at the first race last month. Cap on backwards and the "Yo dude" attitude. He's been better of late so someone must have told him he's not back on the block hanging with his homeys. I do so want an American to do well in F1 - and project a worthy image of America. Like him or not, it will be a long time before anyone measures up to Michael.
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Campisi 9:13PM (4/28/2006)
Good for him; he's getting paid as much as he can to do something that Ferrari desperately wants him to do. I'm more of a Fernando Alonso fan, but whatever...
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Rolly 1:34PM (5/14/2006)
Michael was rumored to have been offered $35 million EURO by Ferrari for 1 year. That converts to over $45 million US. That does not include any endorsements he may get. We all know he will get some $8 million EURO for wearing a patch on his cap over two years. Who knows what else he will get.?
I still think he is the best F1 driver ever. A few others come to mind, but just look at Micheals records. If you watched F1 before Michael won the championship, you would have seen the up-and-comer.
It was unmistakable even then at how good he was going to be. Bennelton had the find of the centurty in the F1 world.
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HondaF1 7:16AM (10/09/2006)
id really like a hit on what your are smoking Jim.
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