Troubled Tiger still tops Forbes list

Despite Tiger Woods' problems surrounding his adultery scandal and lost corporate sponsors, the world's No1 golfer remains the top athlete brand as ranked by Forbes.

The business magazine estimated in its second annual "Fab 40" list that Woods still represents the top sports brand by athlete, with an estimated value of $82 million (Dh300m).

It said Woods' remaining sponsor deals with Nike Inc, Electronic Arts and Gillette will allow him to remain the world's highest paid athlete this year.

His total was larger than that of the next five athletes combined, according to Forbes. Football star David Beckham ($20m), tennis player Roger Federer ($16m), Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr ($14m) and National Basketball Association stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant ($13m and $12m, respectively) rounded out the top six.

The most valuable team brand is English football club Manchester United, worth an estimated $270m, just ahead of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees at $266m, Forbes said.

Among sporting events, the National Football League's Super Bowl championship game was the leader with an estimated value of $420m, topping the Summer Olympic Games ($230m) and the Fifa World Cup ($120m), the magazine said.

In the business category, Nike at $10.7 billion was the top brand, outpacing Walt Disney's ESPN brand ($10.5bn), Forbes said. Rounding out the top five were Adidas, PepsiCo Inc's Gatorade and Adidas brand Reebok.

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