Highest salaries by sport
New Zealand fly-half
Dan Carter is poised to become the highest earning player in rugby union after agreeing a £1.2m per year contract with French side Racing Metro. His pay packet may dwarf his colleagues but is loose change compared to those in other leading sports.
Formula One: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari £50.0m
Baseball: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers £20.9*
Football: Lionel Messi, Barcelona £15.8m
Basketball Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers £15.0m
American Football Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears £11.2m
Tennis: Novak Djokovic £9.2m
Ice Hockey: Shea Weber, Nashville Predators £9.0m
Golf: Rory McIlroy £6.7m
Cricket: MS Dhoni £2.6m
Dan Carter
£1.2m
Racing Metro salary from 2015