Tiger Woods finished atop Bloomberg BusinessWeek's list of the most powerful athletes in 2009.
BusinessWeek and CSE and Horrow Sports Ventures created the list based on athletes' earning potential.
According to the companies, Woods would have been No. 1 even if his sex scandal had surfaced earlier in the year, The Associated Press reports.
LeBron James finished second to Woods on the list, followed by Phil Mickelson, Albert Pujols, Peyton Manning, Dwyane Wade, Michael Phelps, Adrian Peterson, Shaquille O'Neal and Lance Armstrong.
