An absolutely mammoth deal was signed late Sunday evening that saw the sweepstakes for star outfielder Juan Soto result in the most expensive contract in professional sports… ever.
Soto ascended into one of MLB’s brightest young talents and is coming off an MVP-esque campaign with the New York Yankees this past season. This is on the heels of him hitting the open market, so call it perfect timing for the 26-year-old. With plenty of teams bidding for his services, it wound up being the New York Mets who offered him the most money.
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Soto signed a 15-year deal for – wait for it – $765 million. He also gets a $75 million bonus for just putting ink to paper and agreeing to join the team. This is an unfathomable amount of money. I mean, surgeons have a median salary of $239,000. Jeff Bezos walked away with $1.7 million in compensation in 2022, for comparison.
So yeah, this is some serious money. Soto is a four-time All-Star and has won the Silver Slugger, which goes to the top hitter at each position, five times. He also is a World Series champion, having done so in 2019 with the Washington Nationals.
JUAN SOTO INKS MASSIVE NEW CONTRACT WITH NEW YORK METS
The move makes Soto the highest-paid athlete ever, surpassing last year’s record-breaking contract that saw fellow baseball star Shohei Ohtani pen a $700M deal. Soccer star Lionel Messi has a $674M contract, for comparison. Patrick Mahomes’ $450M deal is the highest in the NFL.
Soto now sits atop everyone and moves into a tier that seems otherworldly. If you’re wondering how a deal like this is even possible, that has to do with MLB being the only sport where money is basically not an issue. There’s no salary cap, which is different from every other pro league, and means that teams with heavy rollers as owners, like the New York teams and the Los Angeles Dodgers, can pay however much they want while teams in small markets are unable to come close to matching. MLB also offers guaranteed deals meaning that no matter what, Soto is going to receive the full payout, regardless of getting injured or not.
I wrote this and wept thinking about what having that much money must feel like…
