(Atlanta) January 25, 2012- The New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees (No. 1), Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers (No. 2) and New England Patriots' Tom Brady (No. 3) top the Bloomberg Businessweek 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the U.S. To determine who the 100 most powerful athletes are on- and off-the-field going into 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek teamed up CSE, a leading integrated marketing agency that created the Power 100 list for the third consecutive year using proprietary methodology; Rick Horrow, host of Bloomberg TV "Sportfolio," and CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures and the Nielsen/E-Poll N-Score.

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.

"Using our proprietary analytic measurements, CSE once again created the only list that provides a true comprehensive analysis of the athletes listed; taking into account not just salaries and endorsements, but various fan touch points, including trustworthiness, likability and awareness," said CSE's Vice President of Analytics, David Newman. "Using data that is both psychographic and endemic to the various sports, the list provides a unique 360-degree view of each athlete, which can then be applied by any brand or company when considering sponsorship opportunities."

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."

The full Power 100 special report is available on Bloomberg.com at http://bloom.bg/w11d4Y.

The NASCAR divers include Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 22, Jeff Godon at 29, Jimmie Johnson at 37, Tony Stewart at 60, Carl Edwards at 69, and finally Kevin Harvick at 92.