SPANISH giants Barcelona and Real Madrid and Italy’s Juventus are the world’s best-paid sports teams according to the 2019 Global Sports Salaries Survey.

The 10th edition of the survey, conducted by sportingintelligence.com, finds Barcelona atop the list with an average basic salary of US$12.8 million for first-team players.

That figure is down from last year when Barcelona was also first with an average of US$13.7 million, swelled by the basic pay check of Lionel Messi, which exceeds US$65 million.

Madrid retains second place with an average of US$11.6 million and Juve, ninth on the list last year, is up to third with US$10.54 million. The other soccer teams in the top 20 are Paris Saint-Germain at 12th and Manchester City at 13th.

The figures used in the survey do not include signing or performance bonuses and other extras.

Teams from the NBA fill the remaining seven spots in the top 10 and take 15 of the top 20 places. In 2017 the top three teams in the survey were the Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, while in 2018 three NBA teams broke the average pay ceiling of US$10 million per player.

This year, the Portland Trail Blazers are in fourth place at just over US$10.4 million, with Golden State fifth at US$10.28 million, while Oklahoma City drops to sixth at US$9.83 million.

Among teams ranked 21 to 30 this year, nine are from the NBA, joined by soccer’s Bayern Munich at No. 22.

Juventus was ranked No. 32 in 2017 but leapt to 10th spot last year with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo and other high-priced players.

The biggest riser in the latest survey was the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, who climbed 60 places to 92nd. (SD-Agencies)