ESPN's director of sports analytics, Ben Alamar, came up with a formula that combined salary and endorsements with social media following and Google search popularity to determine which athlete is the most famous in the world.
The ESPN "World Fame 100" was unveiled today and LeBron James... ranks #2. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the biggest icons in the world's most popular sport, soccer, is the most famous athlete on the planet according to Alamar's formula.
Fellow soccer stars, Lionel Messi and Neymar (the dude who has his own Jordan Collection now) came in at #3 and #4, respectively. Roger Federer rounded out the Top 5.
But what about Kobe and Tiger? Or Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor?
Well, since you asked: Kobe was ranked 11th, Tiger slightly higher at #7. Money Mayweather came in at 26, eleven spots higher than #37 Conor McGregor.
LeBron's counterpart in the NBA Finals, Steph Curry, is apparently the 34th most famous athlete on the planet and none of his Warriors teammates even cracked the Top 100.
The "World Fame 100" can also be filtered by country, sport and gender, featuring a detailed breakdown of each player's salary, endorsements, social media following and more.
You can check out the entire "World Fame 100" rankings right here.
[Via]
