adminCity’s sky-high earners such as Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are part of the highest paid sports team in the world, with an average weekly wage for a member of the first-team squad reaching a staggering £100 764, more than £7 000 higher than second-placed baseball side LA Dodgers’ average.
In a survey conducted by Sportingintelligence’s Global Sports Salaries Survey (GSSS) for 2013, compiled in association with ESPN The Magazine, two other English Premier League clubs feature in the top 12 alongside City.
City’s bitter Manchester rivals United were placed in 12th on the list with a £3,9m average annual pay per year (£75 423 per week) and Chelsea dropped from fourth in last year’s survey to eighth, with an average annual pay of £4,1m (£78 053 per week).
Spanish La Liga giants Real Madrid (3) and Barcelona (4) follow one another on the list, both with an average annual pay of around £4,7m (£90 500 per week).
Barca and Real occupied numbers one and two in last year’s survey, but their fall is in part put down to the waning strength of the euro.
Italian Serie A sides Milan (6) and Inter (10) are both high in the standings, with Champions League winners Bayern Munich (9) representing the German Bundesliga.
There are three baseball teams in the top 12 and one basketball team. MLB teams the Dodgers (2), the New York Yankees (5) and the Philadelphia Phillies (11) all taking their places.
The presence of both the Yankees and City on the list shows the combined financial clout of the two franchises, just weeks after the two brands launched joint venture New York City, a new Major League Soccer side based in the Big Apple.
The sole representative of the NBA in the top 12 are basketball team the LA Lakers, who are placed seventh on the list. The average of the Lakers is propped up by superstars such as Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol.
Figures used in the survey are from the 2012/13 seasons in the NBA, NHL and NFL seasons and for seasons completed during or at the end of 2012 in other leagues.
The report features average wage information from the 12 most popular sports leagues in the world (based on average attendance).
The leagues are the NFL, Bundesliga, Premier League, AFL, MLB, La Liga, CFL, NPB, Serie A, IPL, NHL and NBA. — Mailonline.
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