Chicago Salaries

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The Sporting Life

Only five of the ten highest-paid Chicago athletes were among the top ten just two years ago. (Number 10 then, Derrek Lee, made $8.667 million.)

TEN HIGHEST-PAID CHICAGO ATHLETES 1. CARLOS ZAMBRANO

Cubs pitcher $15 million 2. MARK BUEHRLE

White Sox pitcher $14 million ARAMIS RAMÍREZ

Cubs third baseman $14 million JIM THOME

White Sox designated hitter $14 million 5. DERREK LEE

Cubs first baseman $13 million ALFONSO SORIANO

Cubs outfielder $13 million 7. PAUL KONERKO

White Sox first baseman $12 million KOSUKE FUKUDOME

Cubs outfielder

(based on reports of a four-year, $48-million contract) $12 million 9. JAVIER VÁZQUEZ

White Sox pitcher $11.5 million 10. KIRK HINRICH

Bulls guard $11 million PIGSKIN PAY RYAN LEONARD

Special teams coordinator/wide receivers coach, Chicago Rush $33,500 REX GROSSMAN

Bears quarterback $629,290 OLIN KREUTZ

Bears center

Highest-paid Bear $9.004 million CEDRIC BENSON

Bears running back $7.45 million BASKETBALL BUCKS BENNY THE BULL

Mascot, Chicago Bulls

Actual amount known only to Benny and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Top NBA mascots make more than $200,000.

(Source: an NBA executive) BEN GORDON

Bulls guard $4.88 million BILL CARMODY

Head basketball coach, Northwestern University

(for 9/05 to 8/06) $642,279 CHRIS DUHON

Bulls guard $3.25 million HOCKEY CHECKS NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN

Blackhawks goalie

Highest-paid Blackhawk $6.75 million ROBERT LANG

Blackhawks center $4 million Zamboni operator, United Center $33.16/hr. FIRE POWER CUAUHTÉMOC BLANCO

Fire forward

Highest-paid Fire player $2.67 million WILMAN CONDE

Fire defender

Second-highest-paid Fire player $151,500 JUSTIN MAPP

Fire midfielder $136,000 BAKARY SOUMARE

Fire midfielder $78,000 NON-PROFESSIONAL SPORTS PROFESSIONALS JEFF WINKOWSKI

Personal trainer, Follow Through Personal Training $20,000 NICOLE JEANETTE KNIGHT

Administrative assistant, Highland Park Country Club $19,200 STEPHEN COLE

President/CEO, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

(for 1/05 to 12/05) $328,846

The Price of Success

There's no set rate for a save or a tackle. But a bit of comparing shows some players are bargains. Devin Hester, call your agent.

SALARY SALARY $450,000 Bobby Jenks

2007 White Sox closer Saves: 40 PAY PER

SAVE Ryan Dempster

2007 Cubs closer Saves: 28 $5.33

million $11,250 $190,476 $4 million Brian Urlacher

2007 Bears middle linebacker Tackles (including assists): 123 PAY PER TACKLE Lance Briggs

2007 Bears outside linebacker Tackles (including assists): 103 $722,480 $32,520 $7,014 $530,000 Devin Hester

2007 Bears kick returner Return yards: 1,585 PAY PER

YARD 2007 Bears running backs

(Cedric Benson, Adrian Peterson) Rushing yards: 1,184* $9.09

million $334 $7,681 $6 million Martin Havlat

2006-07 Blackhawks right wing Points: 57 PAY PER

POINT Tuomo Ruutu

2006-07 Blackhawks left wing Points: 38 $1.5 million $105,263 $39,474 $16 million Ben Wallace

2006-07 Bulls center Rebounds: 821 PAY PER

REBOUND Luol Deng

2006-07 Bulls forward Rebounds: 579 $2.61

million $19,488 $4,515

Sources: (Jenks) Chicago Sun-Times, (Dempster, Deng) Chicago Tribune, (Wallace) Associated Press, (Bears players) FoxSports.com *Figures are combined