Earlier today, the 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the United Stated was released. Of the 100 athletes chosen from a pool of 3,000 across a variety of sports, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were the only 2 fighters from the boxing/MMA category that made it to the list. While New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was at the top of the list, Pacquiao was ranked 28th, right after Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson and before professional NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. Mayweather, on the other hand, was ranked 49th, behind world-record sprinter Usain Bolt and ahead of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
CSE, an integrated sports and marketing firm in Atlanta, and Horrow Sports Ventures developed the 2012 edition of the Power 100 ranking of the most powerful athletes in professional sports. An athlete's ranking is comprised of "on-field attributes" (50%) and "off-field attributes" (50%) to develop an overall ranking.
ON-FIELD ATTRIBUTES: The on-field attributes measure an athlete's ranking within his or her sport, relative to all other participants. Each athlete is compared to peer group averages, by sport, in a number of statistical categories. Next, a multiplier is used to adjust athletes' rankings, based on the popularity and viewing audience of that sport. All data are analyzed over a two-year basis (weighted 80 percent for the most recent season and 20 percent for the season that preceded it) except for the NBA. Due to the lockout, only data from the 2010- 11 season were used for the NBA.
OFF-FIELD ATTRIBUTES: The off-field attributes comprise an athlete's expected endorsement potential (75 percent), endorsement earnings (15 percent), and social-media presence (10 percent). The endorsement potential comes from Nielsen/E-Poll's N-Score, which evaluates an athlete's appeal, name awareness, and marketing potential on a national and local basis. Endorsement data is estimated by industry experts, based on comparable athletes. Social-media presence is measured based on official Facebook fans and Twitter followers as of Dec. 15, 2011.
What does it all mean? Probably not much other than the fact that it's another United States list that the Pride of the Philippines ranks higher on than Mayweather.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF 100 ATHLETES