Action Sports’ Highest Paid Athletes(福布斯公布极限选手收入榜)

我们知道美国的职业选手都有很多赞助，有比赛奖金，有的有自己的品牌，那么他们中的佼佼者到底能赚多少钱呢？和传统体育项目的明星相比又有多大差距呢？Transworld最近的一篇文章讲的就是大家都非常之感兴趣的话题-关于大牌极限明星的收入排名...
Surfing, skating, and snowboarding have come a long way in the purses that top riders can pull down for winning contests, but it’s still nothing compared to more mainstream sports. Shaun White’s check for winning gold at this year’s Winter X-Games was $30,000. Golfer Geoff Ogilvy’s paycheck for winning the first stop on the 2009 PGA Tour? One point one million dollars.

冲浪，滑板，滑雪这些项目在经历了长久以来的发展之后，顶级的选手可以通过赢得比赛来获得奖金，但与传统运动项目相比还是非常微不足道的。Shaun White在赢得了今年冬季X-Games后获得了3万美元的奖金，而Geoff Ogilvy赢得2009 PGA 巡回赛第一站的奖金是多少呢？110万美元!

That said, endorsement deals are beginning to migrate to our sports in unprecedented amounts. Forbes magazine put together a list of the top-ten earners in action sports for 2008, in which they estimate that White earned nine million dollars, primarily from sponsors Burton, Hewlett-Packard, Oakely, Red Bull, and Target, making his endorsement deals more profitable than any baseball or football player other than Peyton Manning.

While many in the industry may complain about corporate sponsorships and action sports becoming more mainstream, the fact is that it’s these dollars that encourage incredible athletes to excel on a board. According to Forbes: “Corporate money has been pouring into action sports in recent years as the popularity of these sports has taken off with consumers. Participation in skateboarding increased 74% between 1998 and 2007 to 10.1 million participants, the fastest growth of any sport in the U.S. Snowboarding registered the third fastest growth over the same 10-year period, up 42% to 5.1 million participants according to the National Sporting Goods Association.”

Forbes based its estimates on interviews with industry experts and excluded Motocross racing.The top 10 earners in 2008 were all male. Top female snowboarders like Torah Bright, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter make as much as $750,000 annually, but that fell short of their $1 million cut off.
2008年收入前十名的极限选手都是男性。

Here’s the break down of 2008 earnings:
下面就是2008收入排行榜

1. Tony Hawk - Skateboarding - $12 million(一千两百万美元)

Hawk retired from competitive skating in 1999, but he has built a business empire that sold $200 million worth of Tony Hawk branded products last year
虽然Hawk从1999年就退出了滑板比赛，但是他建立了自己的商业王国，去年一年基于他的名字（品牌）的产品销售额高达2亿美元。

2. Shaun White - Snowboarding/Skateboarding - $9 million(九百万美元)

White was the first athlete to compete at both the Summer and Winter X-Games. He’s racked up 10 X-Games gold medals as well as the gold for the men’s half pipe in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Following in the footsteps of Hawk, White launched his own videogame last year through Ubisoft called “Shaun White Snowboarding.”
White是第一个既参加夏季X-Games又参加冬季X-Games的选手，他拿过10块X-Games的金牌以及2006年冬奥会的Half Pipe金牌。像Hawk一样，去年他也和Ubisoft合作推出了以他的名字命名的滑雪游戏。

3. Ryan Sheckler - Skateboarding - $5 million

Sheckler is a hit with teenage girls thanks to his MTV reality show, Life of Ryan, which just wrapped filming its third season. The skateboard prodigy turned pro in 2003 at age 13. Current big sponsors include Oakley, Red Bull and Volcom.
Sheckler13岁就成为了职业选手，迅速成长为明星得意于MTV为他制作的真人秀节目"Ryan的生活",现在他拥有包括Oakley, 红牛,Volcom等众多大品牌的赞助合同。

4. Travis Pastrana - Freestyle MX - $3 million (tie)

4. Kelly Slater - Surfing - $3 million

The nine-time surfing champion is both the youngest and oldest to win the title. We won $260,000 in prize money in 2008 when he captured his ninth title. Slater has won $2 million during his career. The bulk of his earnings comes from sponsors like Quiksilver and surfboard maker Channel Islands.

6. Laird Hamilton - Surfing - $2.5 million

The oldest member of our top 10 athletes at 44, Hamilton has always eschewed traditional surfing competitions for the thrill of big-wave surfing. He has built a reputation as an all-around waterman that has spurred books, movies and a clothing line. His wife is pro volleyball player Gabrielle Reece.

7. Paul Rodriguez - Skateboarding - $2 million

The skater known as P-Rod is the son of actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez. Nike signed Rodriguez to a lucrative shoe and apparel deal in 2004 and has released several signature P-Rod sneakers since then.
我们知道P-Rod是因为它是演员Paul Rodriguez的儿子(父子同名?!)，而2004年签约Nike也是他成功的一大推动力。

8. Danny Kass - Snowboarding - $1 million

Kass won silver medals in the men’s half pipe at each of the last two Winter Olympics. He has sponsorship deals with Gnu Snowboards, Nike and Oakley. With his brother Matt and several friends, Kass founded apparel company Grenade which focuses on winter gloves.

8. Dave Mirra - BMX - $1 million

8. Travis Rice - Snowboarding - $1 million

Considered one of the best boarders on the planet, Rice is a renaissance man on the snow competing in big air, slope style and pipe events. Rice counts Quicksilver and Red Bull as major sponsors and also produces and stars in popular snowboard movies like The Community Project and That’s It, That’s All.