The ESPN Top 100 Fame Rankings have been published for 2017 by the sports website. Two Irish athletes have made the cut.
For the second year running, Rory McIlroy and Conor McGregor feature for Ireland, both finishing in the top 25 (Rory is 14th, with Conor sitting in 25th position).
McIlroy has risen four places from his 2016 rank. The golfer has made on $35,000,000 in endorsements - only five other athletes in the rankings has more. McIlroy has 1.1 million Facebook followers, which is slightly below his following on Instagram of 1.2 million. That itself is trumped by his Twitter account - 3.1 million people follow his activities there.
The Notorious One on the other hand completely dwarfs the Holywood man when it comes to social media. Over 11 million Instagram followers, 3.6 million Twitter followers and 5.2 million Facebook followers are huge for McGregor. But where the golfer has the advantage is the endorsements. McGregor only made $4,000,000 in sponsorships last year.
According to the ESPN site itself, the rankings are made up by 'a formula that combines endorsements with social media following and internet search popularity'
Cristiano Ronaldo tops the 2017 list, which you can see in full here, with Lebron James and Lionel Messi rounding out the top three. That top three is the same as the 2016 rankings.
The rankings are dominated by male athletes, with only eight females appearing. Soccer is the dominant sport, with thirty-eight athletes making their money in the 'beautiful game'
No Robbie Keane though. Scandalous. Justice for the unidentified fan!
