Elite sports stars have a fair amount of excess dough. No this isn’t another Bake Off mishap, but instead an admission that these global superstars can afford things us Average Joes can only dream of.
Mansions and cars are all well and good, but the one commodity that truly marks excessive wealth is the yacht. Picture Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street using dollars as ‘fun coupons’ while standing on a super yacht. This is the ultimate toy of the super rich and we’ve picked out five famous sports stars who own one.
Conor McGregor
You just knew the notorious Conor McGregor would appear on this list. He spent £2.7m on his rare Lamborghini Tecnomar 63, one of only 63 made in the world! This one is built for speed, not comfort. There are no bedrooms, showers, tv’s or any of that nonsense. Instead this features a duel engine with twin turbos producing 4000bhp which allows it to travel at 70mph - on water!
This boat is typical Conor McGregor. Fast, ferocious and fearsome, but not that sensible.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi
These two just match each other stride for stride, on and off the football pitch. Two of the greatest players in history have spent big in the water so let’s start with Cristiano, who splashed out £5.5m on his 88ft long Azimut Grande. With 6 bedrooms, a massive lounge and two ‘relaxation’ areas - whatever they are - this carbon fibre monster can reach 28 knots.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi’s Maiora Seven C reportedly cost around £10m, meaning he has splashed more cash than his Portuguese rival. For that hefty sum he has nine cabins for guests as well as all the mod cons, but that still isn’t enough for privacy it seems. A couple of years ago, one fan swam out to his super yacht in order to get a picture with the all-time great. Messi was only too happy to oblige after that show of dedication.
Tiger Woods
The original sporting superstar of the 21st century. Tiger Woods in his heyday, spent £15 million on the boat he dubbed ‘privacy’ back in 2004. At 155ft long, it can sleep ten people in five state rooms while also housing four cabins for the ship's nine crew members. Huge.
This is so big (6,500ft of space on board) that it has its own elevator, an eight person jacuzzi, a fully-fitted gym while the on-board garage contains two Vespas, three jet-skis and two ocean kayaks. No wonder it costs £1.5m a year to run, yes, to run folks!
Rafael Nadal
You see, Rafa Nadal may not come across as the ‘blingiest’ of sports stars but with career earnings of over £120 million, and that is just from on court success, you can see why he had enough to splash out on a super yacht. After selling his previous yacht, he ‘invested’ a cool £4.5m on a new one, a 78ft long, 1200bhp, personalised 80 Sunreef Power catamaran with some personalised features.
For £4.5m, the King of Clay gets a master suite (with sea views) and an en-suite, a walk-in wardrobe and two 77” televisions. If that wasn’t enough he also gets an on-board pool (the sea not enough Rafa?), fed by waterfalls, a garage for jet skis and a bar. How the other half live, hey?
Michael Jordan
MJ is one of the richest sportsmen on the planet, worth around £1.5 billion, so for him to splash out just £6 million on his yacht seems a little… tight? His Viking Sportfish 80 may feature eight cabins, a gym, a jacuzzi and a cinema room, but it is basically a really expensive fishing boat to the NBA legend.
Nicknamed ‘Catch 23’, Jordan has been known to spend his time in major fishing competitions, even catching a 201kg blue marlin at the Big Rock fishing tournament in North Carolina (is there nothing this man can’t do?!). This makes a perfect home from home and not a bad place to retire to after a day on the lakes. First basketball, then baseball, who would have thought fishing would be the next sport for MJ to master…