The annual BusinessWeek Power 100: Most Powerful Athletes was published this week and caught the interest of the MMA industry by naming Fedor Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar to the list, in addition to boxers Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Shane Mosley.
Athlete Rankings of note:
72. Manny Pacquiao
82. Fedor Emelianenko
91. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
93. Shane Mosley
96. Brock Lesnar
BusinessWeek provides the following insight into its methodology:
The Power 100 rankings are based on a blended mix of athletes’ “on-field” and “off-field” performance to determine which athletes are having the greatest overall impact in the world of sports. On-field scoring is determined by statistically ranking each athlete’s sports performance within his or her peer group over a two-year period. For each sport, key performance metrics include such measures as points scored, money earned, laps lead, and batting average, to name a few. This ranking is then adjusted by the overall popularity of the sport itself, based on an index of fan avidity and TV viewership. The off-field scoring is developed from hundreds of surveys on athletes and how the general public perceives them. The data was compiled by E-Poll Market Research, a leading provider of custom research services and products for entertainment and media companies, using their E-Score® Celebrity database. Athlete rankings are based on such attributes as awareness, appeal, trustworthiness, and influence. In addition, the amount of endorsement dollars each athlete earns rounds out the off-field ranking.
Payout Perspective:
The methodology is there to provide some semblance of objectivity to the rankings, but there are too many head-scratchers on the list for it to have any true meaning.
To be fair, it’s very difficult to produce a rankings list of this sort, because it really becomes a question of how to weight on and off-field accomplishments. There’s also more than likely a political element involved when considering what sports and athletes to include on the list.
I think the larger takeaway here is simply that MMA fighters were considered on the list – irrespective of their positioning. It demonstrates just how far the sport has come in the last ten years.
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