LeBron James surpasses Tiger Woods as world's top personal sports brand

From the moment he set foot on an NBA court, LeBron James made known his desire to be the next "global icon" in sports, treating each step of his career as a marketing opportunity to build his brand — not always successfully, mind you — so he can now rest easy knowing he's succeeded in that regard.

Forbes released its annual "Fab 40: The World's Most Valuable Sports Brands," and for the first time LeBron ranks as the top individual brand in all of sports. His personal brand's estimated off-the-court value of $37 million this year narrowly surpasses that of Tiger Woods, who held the No. 1 ranking since 2007.

According to the magazine, LeBron made $53 million in endorsement earnings last year while the NBA's other top-10 off-the-court earners took home an average of $16 million, and therefore the four-time MVP's moniker is worth roughly $37 million on its own merit — up $10 million from last year, when he won the second of back-to-back titles for the Miami Heat. Tiger's brand fell $10 million from $46 million in 2013.

For the record, Kobe Bryant's estimated $15 million personal brand — down $4 million from last year — is the only other basketball name to crack the magazine's top 10, coming in at No. 8. Likewise, the Los Angeles Lakers are the lone NBA franchise to rank among the top-10 team brands, and they're 10th.

From wearing an "LBJ MVP" shirt to hawking pork donuts and everything in between, LeBron James branded himself as a business, even creating the LRMR sports marketing firm with his agent Rich Paul and childhood friends Maverick Carter and Rich Mims during only his second season in the league.

LeBron's social media strategy basically boils down to a series of advertisements disguised as an Instagram account, and it's worked to perfection. Over the years, he's become more marketing savvy, as evidenced by the distinct difference between his 2010 "Decision" and this past summer's "I'm Coming Home" article for Sports Illustrated. Both carefully crafted, one made him infinitely more likable — and even more marketable.

For the most part, he's traded in wearing his own self-aggrandizing sportswear for more enterprising business ventures, like the sitcom "Survivor's Remorse" he's now executive producing for Starz. And, of course, the fact he remains the world's greatest basketball player doesn't hurt, either.

"You have to understand LeBron is very smart financially," billionaire Warren Buffett once told ESPN after consulting with James. "I've never heard him say anything that doesn't make sense."

All of this could be bad news for NBA ownership, as LeBron seems prepared to wield his considerable control — an influence that held the league captive for the first two weeks of July — as a free agent again if and when the players opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2016.

“I’m the guy that kind of has the power, I guess,” James told The New York Times in the wake of the league's new $24 billion television deal, "without having to put a name on it." (Now, there's a first.)

So, congratulations LeBron James, you're the globaliest icon in all of sports, and it's hard to imagine anybody stealing your spotlight in the foreseeable future. Well, unless the Chinese musical starring Stephon Marbury as himself is the next "Phantom of the Opera." On second thought ...