Words: Steven Holloway, Luke Kirkness and Kris Shannon
New Zealand’s highest-paid sportspeople have a few things in common: they have all reached the top of their chosen field, they ply their trade almost exclusively overseas, and none of them play rugby.
One thing they don’t share is transparency in pay, and when it comes to unpacking wealth among Kiwi athletes, not all sports are the same.
While superstar basketballer Steven Adams’ contract is known down to the dollar, and tournament winnings for New Zealand’s best golfers are similarly available for public consumption, some sporting numbers are more opaque.
So NZME’s effort to rank this nation’s highest on-field earners is not an exact science but a close approximation.
The criteria used is below:
*Active Kiwi sportspeople only
*No coaches/management/administrators
*No marketing/sponsorship revenue included - only earnings from salary or competition from August 2022 to August 2023.
No rugby or league players made our top 10 - Charles Piutau’s $2.1 million deal at Bristol left him just outside - while golfers made up almost half of the list.
All figures are in NZD.
10: Scott Dixon
Estimated 12-month earnings: $2.5m
Scott Dixon is one of the world’s best IndyCar drivers which means his yearly pay packet is in the multiple millions.
Unfortunately, for those trying to put together a rich list, IndyCar doesn’t release any information regarding prize money for races or salaries.
The exception to that rule is the Indy 500, which in 2023 had a prize pool of $16m. Winner Josef Newgarden took home a staggering $6m, while Dixon finished sixth for an undisclosed amount.
The 43-year-old also made it 19 consecutive IndyCar seasons with a victory, after scoring a remarkable win at Indianapolis this month.
The six-time season champion and 2008 Indy 500 champion is the winningest active driver in IndyCar.
Born in Australia, the New Zealand citizen was named this country’s sportsman of the year in 2008 and 2013. He was also appointed Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012.
The total number of Dixon’s earnings are difficult to come by, with online estimates varying between $1,185,388 and a $20m salary.
9. Trent Boult
Estimated 12-month earnings: $2.7m
Trent Boult has extolled the family benefits of opting out of his New Zealand Cricket contract to pursue life as a hired gun, saying the last year has produced some memories to cherish. It’s fair to say the financial benefits have also been welcome.
Boult was granted a release from his central deal last August, a move that allowed him freedom to enjoy more family time and the fruits of his labour.
The decision was not without its downsides - Boult was overlooked for the Black Caps’ home test series while available last summer - but enabled the 34-year-old to increase his earnings in the twilight years of a stellar career.
International cricket contracts can be complex but the majority of his estimated $2.7m figure came from a sum Boult would have still banked had he remained contracted to NZC: the $1.6m price for which the bowler was purchased and retained by the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
But his newfound freedom allowed Boult to also play T20 cricket in Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
After being selected by the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League international draft, Boult picked up $380,000 across the Tasman. In the UAE’s new International League T20, Boult joined MI Emirates and likely earned near $400,000. And while taking 22 wickets to help MI New York claim the inaugural Major League Cricket title, Boult could have collected another $300,000.
Adding in the first two months of his central contract, along with Black Caps match payments, and it’s clear why Boult has no regrets over his big call.
8: Lydia Ko
Estimated 12-month earnings: $4.99m
Lydia Ko bagged the richest prize in women’s golf with a victory at the CME Group Tour Championship in November 2022, worth $3.35m. Subsequently, the 26-year-old finished the year at No 1 in the world rankings.
Ko has claimed victory at the CME Group Tour Championship before, taking top spot in 2014 and winning nearly $840,000 in the process.
Since August 2022, Ko has won a whisker short of $5m, highlighted by that massive win in November.
Other notable earnings last year included winning about $500,000 at the BMW Ladies Championship in October for her first-place finish and $188,500 for third at the Ascendant LPGA Benefitting Volunteers of America tournament in September.
This year had proved less fruitful for Ko. As of August 14, she was ranked No 5 in the world, with year-to-date earnings of less than $330,000.
Ko’s biggest money-earner of the year came after finishing tied for 33rd at the US Women’s Open, collecting about $84,000, but it’s still been a fruitful decade since she turned professional after 130 weeks as the highest-ranked female amateur golfer.
7: Ryan Fox
Estimated 12-month earnings: $5.6m
Ryan Fox’s stocks in the golf world, and bank-balance-world, continue to rise after a hugely successful 12 months.
Fox’s biggest payday over the past year came from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with his win of $1,523,436.
He has finished inside the top 50 at the past three major PGA golf events - T26 at the Masters, T23 at the PGA Championship and T43 at the US Open. He banked $111,633, $276,882 and $246,677 respectively.
Fox hit a real purple patch in March this year with a total of about $1,195,830 after strong finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T14), the Players Championship (T27) and the World Golf Championships Match Play (T17).
The son of legendary All Black Grant, Fox turned professional in 2012. In 2019, he won his first European Tour event at the World Super 6 in Perth to become the first Kiwi to win on the tour in 10 years.
Fox bridged a three-year gap between victories as he won his second title at the 2022 Ras Al Khaimah Classic, cruising to a five-stroke victory at Al Hamra Golf Club, winning roughly $550,000.
6. Steve Alker
Estimated 12-month earnings: $5.98m
It’s been a great couple of years for Steve Alker, who has earned nearly $6m since August 2022.
The 52-year-old finished third at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, winning $350,000 in prize money, and the result secured him first place in the season-long standings, worth $1.64m.
Coupled with the roughly $2m he earned in prize money in the later stages of 2022 and the $2.31m he made in the year to August 2023, Alker has been richly rewarded for playing some great golf.
Just 15 months before winning the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, remarkably, Alker had no tour status.
He had entered qualifying at the Boeing Classic, where he recorded a tie for seventh, won about $177,000, and started a run of six consecutive top-10 finishes, including a tournament victory in his penultimate event last year.
He also won the Arnold Palmer Award for the season-long money title (he made nearly $6m across all of 2022) and the Byron Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average for the 2022 season.
5. Joseph Parker
Estimated 12-month earnings: NZ$6.5m
Joseph Parker remains a heavyweight in New Zealand sport, even if his standing in the boxing world may have fallen.
The 31-year-old’s career earnings are north of $20m, having secured a $13.1m payday for his world title showdown against Anthony Joshua in 2018, and the last 12 months were again profitable.
Despite suffering the first knockout defeat of his career when dropped by Englishman Joe Joyce in Manchester last September, Parker reportedly picked up close to $5m.
The Kiwi was still a significant lure in Britain, remaining on the fringes of contention for the heavyweight crown, and quickly booked a date with another local in Jack Massey.
That January bout went better for Parker, returning to the AO Arena in Manchester to claim a unanimous decision victory, and could have been worth as much as $1m, given it was the last fight on his contract with UK promoter Boxxer.
But with that deal done and his attraction offshore perhaps waning, Parker has begun fighting for diminishing returns.
In May, he took on Australian Faiga Opelu in a headline bout at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. The reduced status of his opponent and the smaller size of the tennis venue saw Parker collect about $500,000 while fighting under new Australian promoter No Limit.
Clouding the picture, the purses Parker earns are shared with trainers and management, but there’s no question his 35-fight professional career has proven extremely lucrative.
4. Danny Lee
Estimated 12-month earnings: $6.9m
Danny Lee won his first tournament in nearly eight years at the LIV Golf Tucson event in March, along with a $6.38m payday.
That was roughly as much as he made on the last four seasons combined on the PGA Tour.
He has made about $529,000 from PGA events over the past year, his biggest coming after finishing T16 at the American Express in January and winning about $145,000.
The 33-year-old was born in South Korea but moved to New Zealand when he was 8, representing this country at international competitions including the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where he finished 27th.
He turned professional in April 2009 after holding the world No 1 amateur ranking from August 2008 and becoming the youngest winner of the US Amateur in August 2008 at 18.
His first win on the PGA Tour came in July 2015, taking out the Greenbrier Classic and also recording five top-five placings to finish ninth on the FedEx Cup standings.
3. Israel Adesanya
Estimated 12-month earnings: $8.4m
Israel Adesanya could easily have been clear in second spot on these rankings: his unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 was last July, just outside our chosen window.
But the Kiwi-Nigerian fighter banked more than enough in the 12 months to follow to still secure a lofty position.
Adesanya did so in two fights against the same opponent, taking on Brazilian foe Alex Pereira in November before the rematch in April.
In the first meeting, Adesanya went into the headline bout at UFC 281 as middleweight champion, having reigned in the division since beating Kelvin Gastelum for the interim championship, before unifying the title with victory over Robert Whittaker in 2019.
But having been twice beaten by Pereira in kickboxing, Adesanya was again unable to get the better of the Brazilian, suffering a fifth-round TKO to lose his title.
It was Adesanya’s first defeat in the middleweight division and second in 25 professional mixed martial arts bouts, but he still took home about $3m once his pay-per-view share was recorded.
The 34-year-old immediately set a rematch against Pereira and wasted little time in winning back his belt at UFC 287, knocking out his rival in the second round. That performance was even more lucrative for Adesanya, with bonuses lifting his earnings near a reported $5.4m.
Adesanya remains one of the hottest names in the sport and will receive another decent payday when he defends his title against Sean Strickland next month in Sydney.
2. Chris Wood
Estimated 12-month earnings: $8.78m
Salary estimates for Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood vary quite a bit, but the ballpark figure appears to be $8,780,000, which ties him as the 118th-highest player in the English Premier League, along with 14 others.
It is dwarfed in comparison to the likes of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who are thought to be the league’s top earners with salaries worth $44.23m and $41.4m.
Wood’s former All Whites skipper Winston Reid was thought to be earning around $7.7m per year while playing for West Ham United, after signing a six-year, $46m contract in 2017-18.
Wood’s most prolific years in the Premier League came during his stint at Burnley between 2017-18 and 2021-22, when he scored 49 goals.
By eclipsing the 10 league goals in a season for the fourth time in four years, Wood joined some elite company with only Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Alexandre Lacazette and Son Heung-Min achieving the same consistency.
In 2020-21, Wood became the first Kiwi to score a hat-trick in the Premier League, for Burnley against Wolves. Three goals in his side’s first 44 minutes made it the first in 23 years of EPL competition to take place in the first half alone.
After signing with Nottingham Forest in the January transfer window, Wood suffered a thigh injury during his new side’s March 11 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and was ruled out of the remainder of the season.
This month he has come off the bench in each of Forest’s first two games of the new campaign, scoring an 89th-minute winner against Sheffield United on Saturday.
1. Steven Adams
Estimated 12-month earnings: $30.3m
His season was hampered by injury but it was another healthy year for Steven Adams’ bank balance.
The NBA star collected $30.3m during the 2022-23 campaign, which ended prematurely when he suffered a PCL sprain in his knee in January.
Adams was in the final year of a two-year contract extension he signed when traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2020, ending a seven-year stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After spending one season with the Pelicans, Adams was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, starting 75 games while helping his side to the Western Conference semifinals in his first year, before being limited to 42 starts in his second. Without their Kiwi centre, the Grizzlies were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Adams has now played 10 seasons in the NBA since being drafted by the Thunder with the 12th overall pick in 2013. The 30-year-old has crept near a quarter of a billion in career earnings, a mark he will sail past with the two-year, $42.6m extension he inked with Memphis in 2022.
But Adams, who runs yearly basketball camps for promising students in New Zealand, appears to have avoided the trappings of wealth.
When asked after signing his latest deal whether he would treat himself, he told The Crowd Goes Wild: “Nah, not at all bro. I’ll just go have a feed somewhere with the boys. I’ve never been too much of a buy-anything-crazy person. I’ve always just been chill, grab a feed.”