Peyton Manning ranked as the top NFL athlete at No. 13, while David Beckham comes in at No. 17. Katie Bayne, Senior VP at Coca-Cola, is the highest-ranked woman on the list at No. 67.
To compile the list, BusinessWeek contacted 21 leading figures from the worlds of sports and media. 160,000 fans also nominated their favorite powerbrokers at BusinessWeek.com.
Among the criteria considered were: how an individual rates against his or her peers; how much money he or she controls, generates, or influences; how long someone has exercised power and the lasting consequences of that person's tenure.
A major interview with NFL Commissioner Goodell will run in the October issue of Sport Business International.
