Paris: Money flooded into sport in 2016 faster than ever before and flooded out in the shape of fatter salaries for the stars who have become multi-million business brands.
Paul Pogba's world record transfer to Manchester United set the tone for a year of big money deals. But even Pogba has got a long way to go to catch up with gold-plated stars like Barcelona's Lionel Messi and his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's highest paid athlete according to Forbes, who banks just short of $1.7m (€1.6m, £1.4m) a week in salary and endorsements.
The tide of high finance in sport did not stop there. TV income rose 40 percent for Germany's Bundesliga while the US NBA enjoyed a vintage financial year and Formula One motor racing attracted a multi-billion dollar US takeover bid.
Three years after Welshman Gareth Bale set a world record transfer figure of 101 million euros (around £80m) for his move to Real Madrid, Pogba upped the ante with his €105m transfer to Manchester in August despite his failing to set sparks flying for France in Euro 2016.
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson told the Daily Mail that the moment the £8.3bn ($10.75bn, €9.6bn) domestic TV deal covering 2016-2019 was signed between the Premier League and Sky Sports and BT Sport, "transfer values and salaries were going to go up." The result was not long in coming. Premier League clubs spent €1.38bn during the 2016 summer transfer market window, 34 percent up on the previous year.
The cash flowed thick and fast in basketball in the United States, where TV income tripled and the sport generated global revenue of $5.2bn (€4.8bn) with operating profit of $900m, a record, according to Forbes. At the same time, NBA clubs saw their value rise by an average 13 percent with the New York Knicks topping the financial league at $3bn.
With TV income up sharply since last year -- and slightly higher than Premier League levels -- NBA clubs are pushing up salaries, with LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers seeing his $23mn paycheck boosted to $30.9m for the 2016/17 season.
Formula One was also a big winner in the financial stakes. The sport deemed to be in severe decline still managed to attract the high rollers with US firm Liberty Media, run by billionaire John Malone, buying out F1's parent company in a deal which values the sport at $8bn.
