Rishabh Pant has become the highest paid cricketer in the history of Indian Premier League Sold for 27 crores (approx. $3.1 million) in this year’s IPL auction. Pant’s deal, however, pales in comparison to the one baseball star Juan Soto signed earlier this week, which will see the southpaw slugger earn $50 million per year for the next decade and a half.
Considered the best hitter in the Major Leagues baseballSoto has reportedly signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets that translates to an average annual value (AAV) of $51 million. If he declines the opt-out available in 2029 that number could jump to $805 million (translating to an AAV of $55 million for the remainder of the contract). The total number includes a whopping $75 million signing bonus.
Soto’s contract is the largest, and longest game baseball – or any professional sports league – has ever seen. Here are 4 reasons why he was awarded such a deal.
- 01
The new normal for sports stars
Although Soto’s contract is the largest in terms of the cumulative amount he will be paid over the course of a contract, it still pales in comparison to the annual figures made by players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema and Neymar. swansong year.
For example, Ronaldo reportedly earns $260 million a year playing for Al Nasser in the Saudi Pro League, with most of the money coming from his image rights and business deals with the Saudi kingdom. Over in Major League Soccer, Forbes It is estimated that Leo Messi could earn around $135 million a year, including his official MLS salary as well as contracts with Apple and Adidas.
In the NBA, Steph Curry, Jaylen Brown and soon Jayson Tatum, will all collect upwards of $60 million a year. Tatum’s ‘supermax’ contract will earn him $315 million over five years – a better average deal than Soto’s. The bottom line is that sports deals have gotten bigger over time, because sports have become a very lucrative business.
What sets Soto’s deal apart is the length and guaranteed money he’s pulling in. Baseball-specific reasons play a role here.
- 02
A 26-year-old generational talent
The way MLB contracts work is players typically make the league minimum for three years after their debut — which stands at $740,000 in 2024 — followed by three years of arbitration, where players and their clubs agree on salaries. This is an amount greater than the rookie minimum, but generally less than what a player would be eligible for on the free market.
This means players are only eligible for big contracts 6 years after their debut. Given the age at which most MLB players enter the league, they are usually in their late 20s or early 30s when they receive their big contract.
Soto, however, is only 26. Since making his debut for the Washington Nationals at 19, the baseball prodigy from the Dominican Republic has consistently been in the top 10 of the MVP race in MLB. Soto’s age sets the Mets up not only for immediate wins, but also for long-term success as a club.
It’s exactly the kind of headline deal that Mets owner Steve Cohen has been trying for the past four years.
- 03
Richest owner in MLB
Historically, the New York Mets have been a mediocre team, and have lived in the shadow of the legendary New York Yankees. Cohen, who will own the Mets in 2020, is trying to change this status quo in New York baseball.
While every team that met with Soto met the superstar in free agency at a hotel in California, Cohen called to meet at his Beverly Hills mansion. For the richest owner in baseball, with a net worth of $21.3 billion, according to ForbesIt was both an act of gamesmanship and an attempt to deliver a personal pitch to Soto.
According to athleticSoto wanted to be close to the owner of the club he played for. While playing for the Yankees in the 2024 season, he saw how close Aaron Judge, the franchise’s multi-MVP winning star player, was to owner Hal Steinbrenner. Soto reportedly wanted equal status, which may have ultimately forced him to move from the Bronx to Queens despite the two New York teams offering similar contracts. (Yankees reportedly offered Soto 16 years, $760 million)
Soto’s selection has now ignited a city rivalry that never really existed. “The Yankees are the Yankees. I respect that,” Cohen said USA Today. “It’s not about the Yankees versus the Mets. It’s about competing for a player. We can both be located in New York. There’s plenty of room.”
- 04
Baseball and long contracts
What makes Soto’s deal really big is its length. And for top hitters in baseball, long contracts are common, albeit with smaller per-year amounts than in some other sports.
For teams, such offers reduce overall annual expenses and help keep clubs within MLB’s loose salary cap. (The league does not have a salary cap but has a progressive tax structure where beyond certain thresholds in terms of overall salary, teams must pay larger amounts to the league). By paying players $300 million over ten years, rather than say $180 million over four years, teams reduce their overall annual salary budget. This allows clubs to build more rounded teams by investing in multiple players rather than single individuals.
For players, such deals offer them more guaranteed money than other games. And while most top players are underpaid in their early years, they allow players to recoup the money they lose as they age by paying them more in the later years of their contracts.
That said, top baseball players generally have a longer shelf life than other players which means teams are also willing to offer longer contracts to tie down talent for longer periods of time.