[RRainman]

Actually.....Rossi's riding contract was $17 million for 2 years. The rest was endorsements.

 

[RRainman]

I dunno, but according to my source, his Yamaha contract was a little over $20M for 2 years(2004/2005)...

$17 according to this.....

"The world champion last year (and the year before, and the year before that, and ...) is a young Italian named Valentino Rossi. Rossi is famous for three things:

His incredible skill on a motorcycle;
His outrageous antics - and I do mean antics. He once won a Grand Prix race, then pulled to the side of the track and ran into a portajohn set up for the track workers, and came out dressed as Robin Hood. He doesn't seem to take it quite as seriously as him competitors do;
His general joie de vivre - as opposed to the mechanical seriousness from most professional athletes, he comes across as a guy who just can't wait to wake up tomorrow and go do it some more. The pressure of a $17 million contract must have some effect, but it isn't an obvious one. "


Vale's Initial Contract