The 20 clubs in world sport paying the highest average salaries cluster in Major League Baseball (six), the English Premier League (five) and the NBA (five), according to the Global Sports Salary Survey by the publication Sportingintelligence.
So now it is time to loosen that grip on your wallet and lets take a look at the top five:
Manchester City, US$8.98 million (Dh32.7m)
The 2012 Premier League and current League Cup champions pay more per first-team player than any club in the world, based on figures from the 2012/13 season.
Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and David Silva, are thought to be their top earners, at about $18m each.
New York Yankees, $8.9m
Baseball’s glamour franchise are hot on the heels of City.
Among their best-paid players are the infielder Mark Teixeira and the pitcher CC Sabathia, each of whom will receive $23m this season, and the Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka ($22m).
Los Angeles Dodgers, $8.6m
The owners paid a staggering $2 billion for the baseball club two years ago and have been collecting expensive players since.
They include infielder Adrian Gonzalez ($21.8m), pitcher Zach Greinke ($21m) and outfielder Carl Crawford ($20.9m).
Real Madrid, $8.4m
The capture of the Welsh striker Gareth Bale, the most expensive transfer in football history, at £100m (Dh618m), has kept the La Liga team’s wage scale high.
Don’t forget about Cristiano Ronaldo, is among the top two best-paid footballers.
Barcelona, $8.3m
Lionel Messi likely earned the biggest wage in world football in 2012/13, estimated as high as $58.6m or as low as $22m, depending on the source.
Other clubs in the top 10
Brooklyn Nets ($7.6m), Bayern Munich ($7.4m), Chicago Bulls ($7.3), Manchester United ($6.7m) and Chelsea ($6.7m).
