If Phelps is so great, then why does he only make 5 million every year compared to 100 million for Tiger?

Question

Phelps is a peasant compared to Tiger and always will be. h**l my internet business makes more money than Phelps every year. Why am I not in the news?

Answer 1

Idiot ! [] No One compares SWIMMING to GOLF :/ its just FUN seeing Phelps swim and keeps winning but soo boring watching Tiger woods play golf ;/ its not about the money you know ;)

Answer 2

It's not money that qualifies anyone as great...obviously.

Answer 3

Not for long...

Answer 4

The Olympics are the only time any Americans cares about swimming, so it's not worth paying him.

(Thumbs downs? Swimming has never been a major ESPN sport!)

Answer 5

Because people don't get paid to be Olympic athletes.  I imagine that swimmers don't get paid much to swim professionally anyway.  Who watches pro swimming?  Is there even such a thing?

Answer 6

good question.  

Answer 7

Swimming is not as well recognized as golf.  Besides the Olympics, when was the last time you saw a swim meet on tv?

Golf, is very popular, and visible to people.  You see and hear about Tiger throughout the yr on a regular basis.

Answer 8

Phelps is the best swimmer...ever. He breaks every world record in the Olympics and is sweeping them now. It isnt the money that makes the person great.

Answer 9

when the h**l did we start comparing golf to swimmimg and riches to more riches.  

Answer 10

Golf is a way bigger sport than swimming.

When do you ever hear about swimming other than during the Olympics? On the other hand, there's a golf tournament on T.V. every weekend. There is way more money in golf through both endorsements and tour wins and obviously Tiger is king of the castle when it comes to golf.

People are just jumping on the Phelps bandwagon because it's the cool thing to do. Don't get me wrong, it's incredible what he's done but after the olympics are over, the general public stops caring about swimming.

Answer 11

Tiger Woods makes most of his money through sponsorship.

Big company's target golf because executives play golf and they have enough money to spend thousands of Euro on a Tagenhauer (or whatever) watch.

Tiger Woods hasn't won anything in ages because of Knee Surgery.

Michael Phelps is winning things and breaking records now, which puts him in the news.

How is this not obvious?  

Answer 12

previous respondents who mentioned endorsement money are right on the money. But, the other thing to consider is the sheer popularity of golf, and the fact that golfers compete pretty much every single week. Golf is on TV in some form or another from about mid January to the tail end of November and some golf tournaments will draw upwards of 200,000 spectators over the course of the 4 days.

Combine that with the fact that competitive swimming basically gets attention only during the Olympics (and maybe during the World Championships once a year) and it is obvious that no swimmer, regardless of how dominant he is, will ever make as much as a top golfer, or an athlete in dozens of other sports for that matter.

As to why you aren't famous, the answer is not that difficult. Phelps has done something that nobody else ever has. But, you are certainly not the only person in history to have a business that does well. That and the fact that, regardless of how exciting your job may be, I really doubt there are many people who would stay glued to a TV to watch you at work.  

Answer 13

beacause swimming is different from golf you r****d! some people like swimming more than golf some people like golf more ... who knows

     i didn't mean to be mean but answer my questions plz thnxx if you do =) http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 14

Watch Michael Phelps videos at Beijing 2008 Olympic swmming finals below

http://www.freakncool.com

Complete collection of 8 Gold Medals

http://www.freakncool.com

Answer 15

I bet Tiger will be asking for Golf to be put in the olympics so he can try for a gold medal. After all it worked for Basketball and Tennis

Answer 16

you obviously don't do anything that anyone deems news worthy. i'd say since everyone is talking about him, he's news worthy.

Answer 17

Perhaps because swimming isn't as popular as golf (sports maketingwise).

BTW, what the h**l kind of comparison is this anyway? Apples and Oranges. They're both great and top of their fields. That's all there is.

Answer 18

5 million dollars for a swimmer?  Thats pretty good.  Besides it's not all about the money you make.  Michael Phelps is consistently breaking World Records.  He's got a record for medals.  Tiger Woods is a great golfer, but a lot of his money comes from endorsements.  Phelps..it's not like he's getting a ton of endorsements...I've only seen him in one commercial.  The amount of money you make is only part of the equation..you have to look at the whole picture.

Answer 19

does your internet business have like 11 olympic golds?

cause phelps is a beast hes still in the news

and tiger has been famous longer then phelps..hes also known cause he was like the first black golfer to achieve all that wasnt he?

idk but no one can question phelps' amazing-ness lol

Answer 20

Well, when ESPN, CBS, NBC, ABC and the BBC broadcast men's swimming events like they do the Master's Tournament and every other golf event....and there is more coverage and more fans to watch the sport.  Golf isn't that exciting to watch, much like NASCAR.

Phelps is an atlete who competes against the clock.  Tiger swings a gold club and a putter.

Did anyone see how Mark Spitz whined about how he wasn't "invited" to the Olympics?  He feels like the Olympic committe should pay his way there and set him up as somebody special.  Yes, he won many gold medals, but he isn't there BECAUSE HE KNOWS Phelps WILL BEAT his record (and he thinks HE should be there to give Phelps that gold medal that beats his own record).  Mark Spitz needs his own special corner to whine and whimper in.

Answer 21

Yea, a rich dude would come here to bash a swimmer

Answer 22

Don't worry, Phelps will disappear off the radar once the NFL season starts back up.  What he did was amazing, but he'll fade away fast.

Answer 23

they play dif sports. a doctor can be a great doctor, but he'll still get payed more than a great garbageman

Answer 24

the amount of money you make doesnt define who you are. look at stephon marbury and gilbert arenas (basketball) for instance. they are 2 overrated players who signed 100+mill contracts and will never win a championship. then look at david beckham. it took a total of 250million in contracts and endorsements to get him over here and he hasnt done c**p on the field besides selling underwear which isnt relevent to the real reason he came here.  

Answer 25

have you seen tiger's face as he is watching the ball on the last green, you see the emotion on his face for 18 holes. you don't get the opportunity to see that with Phelps, the race is too short. Also for the same reason soccer players don't make as much. people really don't care about the sport outside of these two weeks. i guess the reason Tiger and Phelps are in the paper and your not is because you're really not that interesting.  

Answer 26

when is the last time a swim meet prize was a huge chunk of money? every time tiger wins he walks away with the "purse" or prize money.

i love tiger but when's the last time he won 11 gold medals?  

Answer 27

because neither you or Tiger have won the Olympics and received more gold medals than anyone in history.  Swimming is a real sport unlike golf. And Phelps makes that money on his own, not through a business.

Some people don't base life off of how much money they make either.

Answer 28

I didn't know it was based on money.

I guess thats why I'm just a teacher.

Answer 29

Because he doesn't have tournaments every other week that pay out millions of dollars for just ending up in the top 5. Swimming is an afterthought in America until the olympics pop up. He doesn't have the sponsors that Tiger does, and the sponsors he does have are essentially only for swimmers.