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As the business of sports continues to grow, endorsement contracts increasingly impact players, teams, and the industry. These contracts take into consideration many of the same factors as the Power 100 ranking - performance, name awareness, appeal, influence, trustworthiness and overall popularity, among other things. Social media, for example, played a role in boosting the rankings of such athletes as LeBron James (No. 4) and Shaquille O'Neal (No.7). The Power 100 rankings are based 50 percent on these on "off-field" measurements, and 50 percent on "on-field" performance using a variety of industry statistics.

The most notable drops this year include injury-plagued Peyton Manning dropping from No. 1 to No. 51 and golfer Phil Mickelson dropping from No. 4 to No. 18. Due to the individual dominance of its top athletes, tennis commands ten percent of the spots on this year's list, with the top female athlete on the list being American tennis stalwart Serena Williams (No. 25).

In addition, this year's Power 100 rankings also emphasize the importance of team sports, with the NFL dominating the list with 26 players ranked in the top 100. The National Basketball Association came in second with the most athletes on the Power 100, with 20, followed by MLB baseball (16), tennis (10), golf (8), motorsports (6), Olympics (4), soccer (4), hockey (3), boxing/MMA (2), and action sports (1).

"This is the third year of the Power 100, and it continues to be a cutting-edge tool to measure the power and value of athletes," says Horrow, who will devote an entire "Sportfolio" episode to the special report on January 25. "CSE's consistent methodology provides the industry's only analytics to provide integrated on field and off field attributes."

Bloomberg Businessweek teamed up with Rick Horrow, host of Bloomberg TV "Sportfolio," and CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures; CSE, a leading integrated marketing agency that created the Power 100 list for the third consecutive year using proprietary methodology; and the Nielsen/E-Poll N-Score.

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