Sports’ Most Influential People

Sports is big business in America, so it stands to reason that its biggest stars and most powerful executives would wield a certain amount of clout in popular culture.

BusinessWeek has ranked the 100 Most Influential People in Sports. A few might surprise you, but most probably won’t.

Here are the Top 10:

  1. Tiger Woods

  2. Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

  3. David Stern, NBA Commissioner

  4. George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN

  5. Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports

  6. Phil Knight, Chairman, Nike

  7. Allan “Bud” Selig, Commissioner, Major League Baseball

  8. Brian France, Chairman and CEO, NASCAR

  9. Michael Jordan, NBA great, Minority Owner Charlotte Bobcats

10. Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports

To read about the rationale behind the rankings, and to see who else made the list, visit BusinessWeek.