Study: Yankees’ players world’s highest-paid in team sports, ahead of Real Madrid, Barcelona

Study: Yankees players highest-paid in world sport

LONDON — A British study says the New York Yankees are the world’s highest-paid players in a team sport, beating out members of Spain’s Real Madrid soccer team.

The “Review of Global Sports Salaries” published Sunday said that players on Madrid rival Barcelona had the third-highest salaries, followed by Premier League club Chelsea.

The next seven teams were all from the NBA, with the Dallas Mavericks at No. 5 and the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 6.

The report compiled by www.sportingintelligence.com gave figures in British pounds, with Yankees players listed as having an average salary in 2009 of 4.7 million pounds, currently about $7 million. The figure for Madrid was 4.2 million pounds ($6.3 million), and 4.07 million pounds ($6.1 million) for Barcelona.