Italian soccer club Juventus is cutting the wages of its players and coaches to help control costs while sports are shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The club said it expects to save $100 million over four months March-June however the club stated it will pay normal salaries when Serie A resumes play. The amount shaved is equivalent to 30% of the Bianconeri’s annual total wage bill, the highest among Serie A clubs, per Sporting Intelligence. Juventus is worth $1.512 billion, according to Forbes, and made a profit of $47 million on $480 million in revenue last year.
It lead superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly agreed to sacrifice $4.24 million, but even if he takes a 30% haircut, he could make $91 million in total earnings (salary, bonus and endorsements). That would keep him in line to become the third active athlete to crack the $1 billion mark in career earnings at the end of this season.
Last year, the Portuguese striker earned $109 million, including $65 million in salary and bonus, to rank as the world’s second-highest-paid footballer and among the best-paid athletes in all sports. Even at the reported 30% pay cut under consideration by all Serie A clubs, Ronaldo could have had a $20 million paycut and would still earn an estimated $46 million annual paycheck—an amount greater than the total earnings (salary, bonus and endorsements) of all players in the world except his rival Lionel Messi at Barcelona and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain.
With the additional $45 million he makes from sponsors, pitching products head to toe for the likes of Nike and his CR7 line of underwear, footwear and cologne, Ronaldo can still earn $91 million annually to retain his standing among the best-paid in all of sports, and still become the third active athlete to crack the $1 billion mark in career earnings at the end of this season. Tiger Woods was the first to do so in 2009, 13 years into his professional career, followed by boxer Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
It should also be said that Ronaldo has already donated $1.8 million to hospitals in his native Portugal to help with their coronavirus efforts.
