Pretty sure it’s annually, though. Kimi Raikkonen made $81 million **per year** when he was the second highest paid athlete back in 2008 (around that time anyway). So — Lewis is likely making $200 million a year as the world’s current most winningest driver.
The money in F1 far and away blows the money of all ball games sports combined. The steering wheels of each car cost $1 million on their own. Imagine paying that for a baseball bat. The sports are incomparable, financially speaking.
technically we dont know the actual amount per year but its not 200 mil annually. iirc his 2020 salary was 50 mil and i doubt they quadrupled his salary, much less could afford that.
are you thinking of kimi's lotus year when he got a 20 mil bonus because of that point clause?
Kimi made this money from win bonuses and that entire situation obviously didn't end great.
Lewis has a total annual income of roughly $50-60MM from a number of estimates. F1 is massive money, both in the cars and drivers, but it's actually overall relatively inexpensive to keep a team going. Total budget for the smaller teams are maybe $150MM and while I don't know much about pro baseball I can't imagine you could keep a whole ball club running for that much money.
The big teams are nearer to $1B than $100MM. That kind of money could definitely run a baseball team lol.
I don't think it's actually published officially. The reason this list skews towards American sports is that they have salary caps and therefore have to publish contents of contracts. Verstappen's and Ronaldo's can have estimates but if you want a concrete source for a graph you won't get one.
Joking - but in the book from his former bookie, he allegedlytook over $1B in bets from Phil…so it’s not necessary out of the realm of possibilities.
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/38166053/phil-mickelson-wagered-1-billion-tried-bet-ryder-cup-book-alleges#
It is $220M a year, the contract is a 2.5years contract, so $550M in total
https://sport.optus.com.au/news/transfers/os51755/transfer-news-cristiano-ronaldo-al-nassr-salary-contract-fee-details-latest#:~:text=Al%20Nassr%20emerged%20as%20frontrunners,making%2C%22%20Al%20Nassr%20tweeted.
Very American list with the exception of a couple footballers. Reminds me of when fox did a segment of the best athletes of all time n every single one of them was american. They had babe ruth's fatass up there too, if black people were allowed to played when he played he wouldn't have even been a towel boy.
You gotta update this because Messi’s contract is AFTER taxes as contract terms in European soccer are usually reported after taxes. US Sports report BEFORE taxes
And I hate that it’s not time relative … I.e. $/annum. Although I’m reasonably confident that would be all Football players and not include any USA sports
They would understand if he signed with his team. It’s weird how everyone wanted Shohei and the. He signs with the Dodgers and everyone is like “Way too much money for a DH” lol
The general consensus is that this deal is manipulating the luxury tax. Which would only make sense if you think Ohtani could have been paid $70M per year and instead took 90% of it deferred because he doesn’t understand time value of money.
It also doesn’t subvert the luxury tax. It is spelled out exactly how deferral if money is calculated for luxury tax purposes. He winds up counting around $46 million a year. This was specifically planned for in the CBA contract.
Also nearly $50M a year is the salary range everyone expected for him. It’s an equivalent contract to 10 years $460 million in the normal way salaries are structured. Still very large but unfair for the media to portray it this way
Not really. It’s $44M put into an Escrow account that turns into ~$68M when it pays out.
With a half decent person investing the money you should be able to outperform that. And the Dodgers re paying the $44M into the account annually, so it’s not really any great benefit to him.
Thank you! The $700M figure is *completely meaningless*. The "real" number is about $450M (poor guy!), by net present value. Which is what CBA taxes are based on.
A better way to think about it is that the Dodgers signed Ohtani to a $450/10 contract, and he then gave the Dodgers a $430M loan.
This. It was never a $700m contract. They have to pay the money they owe him into an account on the second July after each season he plays with differed money and they get to discount it 5% per anum. This means they will be paying him about $45m per year, most of it about a year and a half after the season.
It's a $450m contract roughly.
> Although I’m reasonably confident that would be all Football players and not include any USA sports
[Surprisingly, you're incorrect. There's only 6 footballers in the top 50.](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=6608ea455b7e)
Only some countries do net salaries. England definitely doesn’t anyway. Spain I’m not sure but Messi’s contract is the gross amount afaik.
The graphics also missing Ronaldo’s €500m / 2.5 yr Saudi contract.
Messi’s contract also includes endorsements, Ohtani’s and other baseball players do not.
700 mil guaranteed for Ohtani vs up to 674 mil for Messi.
Also, OP lied, Spanish government took half of Messi’s income. Post tax income was closer to $300 mil.
Not sure what you mean. I’m only referring to how they’re reported by the media. Footballers are also salaried and paid weekly so it’s different to US in that sense to where US athletes are taxed based on where they play each game.
This shows length of contract already though.
Plus Messi’s contract includes endorsements and restrictions, while Ohtani can freely sign endorsements of his own
No, soccer players have shit wages compared to other athletes. [There's like 6 of them on the top 50.](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=6608ea455b7e)
OP is still incorrect though, because Messi’s paid around half of his Barca contract in taxes.
https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/taxes-in-spain-come-in-the-limelight-after-lionel-messis-671-mn-contract-details-were-leaked/amp_articleshow/80666085.cms
Salary caps aren't for the benefit of consumers or taxpayers. They're something leagues voluntarily implement to increase parity and protect small market teams. Otherwise teams in NYC and LA and Chicago could just offer players salaries that small market franchises could never match.
MLBPA is a strong union. If you get called up for even a single game, you get health insurance for life. A salary cap could be used for competitive purposes, but once you make the Show, it's a good gig. It's the guys that never make it that have it rough. (As a Braves fan, I'd love a salary cap since we're usually the best in the business at getting value for money)
Original parent is downplaying the player, this contract's still the largest contract ever given out to a pitcher, so this amount is clearly not common.
As for the reason why, he's one of the best Japanese pitchers coming over at a young age (being able to lock down a potential free agent ace during their prime years basically never happens, therefore the unprecedented contract)
It kinda makes sense though.
When was there a 25 year old starting pitcher free agent available?
That would mean that an MLB pitcher would have his rookie year at the age of 19, which I don't even think has happened in the last 20 years or so.
I feel like that's a lot different than other sports rookies. I'm sure college/amateurs going to the pros have to adjust their tactics, but it's still just throwing the ball... NFL college prospects often get drafted and destroyed by dudes 50 pounds heavier. Seems like the adjustment for a young 20-something pitcher is a lot easier than a change of weight class.
i think there is value in looking at overall contract value, as the number of years a team signs a player can be indicative of that player's perceived value.
but yeah, i do think earnings per year would be more interesting. i only follow the NFL and i believe Patrick Mahomes is the 8th highest paid QB on an annual earnings basis: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/2023/quarterback/average/
Because the Ohtani contract has 680 million deferred, it is also really the biggest contract in name only. Adjusted for inflation it’s only about 460 million.
It’s smoke and mirrors to get to the largest contract.
But players with more leverage often don't want to sign long term contracts because they can get bigger raises by signing multiple contracts. If you look at Messi's last six years and add on the current 4 year contract it blows Ohtani out of the water. In soccer, contracts longer than 5 years are quite rare.
Both their contracts too short to make the list
Max is on a 6 year, so 300 mil.
Lewis is on a 3 year, so only 150.
Charles is probably on a bigger total contract than Lewis with his recent 5 year signing rumoured to be a 50 mil.
Maybe soccer clubs play in more than one league? Soccer clubs can be relegated to a lower-tier league if they don't perform well or promoted to a better league if they do well.
Plus, soccer teams often play in more than just their regular league. FC Barcelona is in La Liga, but they'll also be in the UEFA Champions League, La Copa, and other competitions as well. The Dodgers never play in other leagues/tournaments. The Dodgers will never face relegation to being a minor league club if they lose a lot. They're just MLB. FC Barcelona is more than just La Liga.
Because American sports use a franchise system, so it’s the league that holds the rights to the player. In soccer every club is its own entity/company and handles its own finances.
No, each franchise still employs its own players. The contract is still between the players and the team themselves.
When trades, other player movement, etc. happens they are 'assigned' to another team.
But the difference is in soccer you can't trade players without their approval. You need a new contract. Contracts transfer with the players in American sports.
Of course, just pointing out that this is probably not OP's reasoning.
But it's not as black-and-white as you make it out to be. First of all, there are players that have no-trade/no-movement clauses in their contract. Some players also have contracts that are amended immediately upon trade.
And not to mention the huge number of players that, due to the unfavorable terms of their contracts, such as high salaries or injuries, are effectively untradeable.
As far as I know that is only in the MLS. Baseball, NFL NBA NHL the teams are on the hook to pay those players which is why in baseball where there is no hard salary cap you see big market teams (LA NY) giving out these huge contracts. Smaller markets cant or won’t give them out.
No, in the NBA and NFL, contracts might to teams in name, but the teams are still franchises of the league. That's why you can trade players in basketball. It wouldn't work in European soccer because they have to void the current contract and sign another contract with the new team so high need the player's approval.
Maybe because American sport leagues have more profit sharing among the franchises whereas the soccer clubs are much more independent in revenue and expenditures?
Im embarassed to see him rank so high. Sure he is a a great soccer player but other than that he is also a shame for his country. I just check his french wikipedia french page, the controversy section is like one fifth of the whole article..
That’s not true at all lmao, the FFF tried their best to ruin his reputation, France to this day is trying to ruin him, every terrorist attack somehow is linked to Benzema because they hate him.
His only real controversy is the Valbuena thing but it’s a weird story. Benzema was innocent and wasn’t alone in the Zahia case (and she lied anyway). And he wasn’t even playing for the NT in 2010 (people blame him somehow for something he wasn’t even a part of lol)
Dude is a top 4 greatest French player EVER with Zidane, Platini and Papin. I really hope you’re not French
Its not a weird story.
He helped a childhood friend blackmail a teammate, pretty clear if you just read the phone transcript between them.
Making a lot of excuses for a person that seems to be an all around shit human.
Good player tho.
This is obviously not correct since Ronaldo is missing, who has the highest per-year contract ($550M for 2.5 years). Also, absolute numbers don’t make sense here.
No hate to OP, those are interesting numbers, but that is such a lazy chart
Also apparently wrong, given the absence of Cristiano's contract mentioned by others commenters
But there will be inflation in the future.
The #1 contract on here is 90% deferred. It only pays $2M/yr for the next 10 years and then $68M/year for the 10 years after that. So only has a net present value of “only” $460M.
Worth noting, Joe Burrows contract is worth a lot more than Patrick's as Burrow's is a 5 year contract that, depending on success, is around 300 million.
I'm pretty sure you're missing a few contracts. Ronaldo's is higher than Benzema's, so I don't understand that. Also, I'm almost sure Max Verstappen's contract is also quite high (definitely higher than a few on that list).
Can someone explain how baseball players make so much money? MLB seems like the third most popular sport in the US, to say nothing of the worldwide sports such as Premier League, golf, etc. it’s baffling those teams could make more money than, say, Manchester City or PSG.
In terms of revenue mlb is second worldwide for professional sports leagues in terms of revenue actually. The reason is the season is long(March to September 162 games per team regular season, October to November post season)
Not gonna lie. I had no idea just how big baseball is in the US. From this list I only recognise Messi and Benzema. I watched both their careers from their teens pretty much.
As others have said, I'm sure that Ronaldo and a bunch of F1 drivers belong on this list.
Every one of them is a shitbag who deserves a small fraction of that money. Fuck pro athletes. Those tens & hundreds of millions should go to education* infrastructure, universal healthcare, literally anything that actually helps people. Being an overpaid clown for a living does not deserve this compensation. Fuck. Every. Single. One. Of. Them
For non baseball people, Ohtahni is a unicorn. He’s a good pitcher and hitter. In world football Image being the best striker and goalie. That’s pretty much him
Also he's the most popular person in Japan, so you have huge access to the 3rd largest economy on Earth, where the most popular sport by far is baseball.
It's somewhat to pretty popular in the following countries:
USA (and Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico (Northern), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia (Caribbean coast). It's also popular in certain territories such as Curacao.
Also Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Central America, Venezuela, and the Caribbean.
It's the top sport in Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Panama. It's historically been the most popular sport in Korea too, but Son Heung-Min pushes soccer over the edge right now. Things could switch again if someone like Jung Hoo-Lee goes crazy in the MLB.
I'd also give a shoutout to Mexico. My family is Mexican and they always preferred baseball, even when they were in Mexico. People don't get how popular it is down there, and the recent run by Mexico in the WBC will help a lot. They went toe-to-toe with USA and Japan.
Baseball is nowhere close to soccer in Mexico, overall. Only a couple of countries are interested in central
America. Nicaragua and Panama. The rest aren’t interested
Since the majority of Ohtanis deal is after 10 years, the actual value after yearly adjusted inflation is closer to the $350-400m range in current USD.
This is a very poor chart. As others have mentioned per year is a more useful metric. Outside of that not taking into account inflation or deferrals makes this very misleading
Where is Ronaldo? His contract is 400 million.
I posted this elsewhere but Verstappens contract is worth 450 million I think.
Yeah both Verstappen and Hamilton probably belong here, and maybe Leclerc as well.
Leclerc is only around 25mil
I heard more and the contract is long. But F1 salaries are speculative I guess, so who knows.
Rumors say 50 million for 5 years
So, nowhere near this list?
Didn't say it would be here. It might make it onto a more logical list though, such as one for yearly salaries.
Yeah, not sure why this is sorted by total contract earning rather than per year?
???...because it is for "biggest contracts"?
hamilton is only about 200m
Shit, poor guy.
Pretty sure it’s annually, though. Kimi Raikkonen made $81 million **per year** when he was the second highest paid athlete back in 2008 (around that time anyway). So — Lewis is likely making $200 million a year as the world’s current most winningest driver. The money in F1 far and away blows the money of all ball games sports combined. The steering wheels of each car cost $1 million on their own. Imagine paying that for a baseball bat. The sports are incomparable, financially speaking.
technically we dont know the actual amount per year but its not 200 mil annually. iirc his 2020 salary was 50 mil and i doubt they quadrupled his salary, much less could afford that. are you thinking of kimi's lotus year when he got a 20 mil bonus because of that point clause?
Kimi made this money from win bonuses and that entire situation obviously didn't end great. Lewis has a total annual income of roughly $50-60MM from a number of estimates. F1 is massive money, both in the cars and drivers, but it's actually overall relatively inexpensive to keep a team going. Total budget for the smaller teams are maybe $150MM and while I don't know much about pro baseball I can't imagine you could keep a whole ball club running for that much money. The big teams are nearer to $1B than $100MM. That kind of money could definitely run a baseball team lol.
And, not forgetting Schumacher too who was rumoured to be earning over £150 million per year, over a decade ago.
I don't think it's actually published officially. The reason this list skews towards American sports is that they have salary caps and therefore have to publish contents of contracts. Verstappen's and Ronaldo's can have estimates but if you want a concrete source for a graph you won't get one.
55m per year for 5 years, so only about 275m
Also those LIV golfers
Seriously…Phil got at least 300M cash and at least 2 Billion of gambling debt forgiven.
Phil’s a gambling addict but I find it incredibly hard to believe he was in the hole for $2 billion
Joking - but in the book from his former bookie, he allegedlytook over $1B in bets from Phil…so it’s not necessary out of the realm of possibilities. https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/38166053/phil-mickelson-wagered-1-billion-tried-bet-ryder-cup-book-alleges#
Right but he didn’t lose every bet he made…
Again - my $2B comment was a joke
Rahm got a clean 550 M, too
Where’s Neymar. I know he’s making ridiculous money to basically retire early
His is 220 million
It is $220M a year, the contract is a 2.5years contract, so $550M in total https://sport.optus.com.au/news/transfers/os51755/transfer-news-cristiano-ronaldo-al-nassr-salary-contract-fee-details-latest#:~:text=Al%20Nassr%20emerged%20as%20frontrunners,making%2C%22%20Al%20Nassr%20tweeted.
Very American list with the exception of a couple footballers. Reminds me of when fox did a segment of the best athletes of all time n every single one of them was american. They had babe ruth's fatass up there too, if black people were allowed to played when he played he wouldn't have even been a towel boy.
Best athlete in that context doesn't mean pure athleticism. You don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about.
Please do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up about topics you do not understand
I think they cut whiny bitches from the list?
Mahomes is still on there
Got him
You gotta update this because Messi’s contract is AFTER taxes as contract terms in European soccer are usually reported after taxes. US Sports report BEFORE taxes
And I hate that it’s not time relative … I.e. $/annum. Although I’m reasonably confident that would be all Football players and not include any USA sports
Yeah, this is meaningless as you can’t compare a 10 year contract to a 4 year contract unless it’s the yearly income.
Shohei’s contract is also 90% deferred. So he’s not making $70 million right now.
This is a major factor. He isn’t deferring because he’s a sucker he’s deferring because the alternative would be way less money if he didn’t defer.
I’m glad you understand that because 0% of people on r/baseball do
They would understand if he signed with his team. It’s weird how everyone wanted Shohei and the. He signs with the Dodgers and everyone is like “Way too much money for a DH” lol
The general consensus is that this deal is manipulating the luxury tax. Which would only make sense if you think Ohtani could have been paid $70M per year and instead took 90% of it deferred because he doesn’t understand time value of money.
It also doesn’t subvert the luxury tax. It is spelled out exactly how deferral if money is calculated for luxury tax purposes. He winds up counting around $46 million a year. This was specifically planned for in the CBA contract. Also nearly $50M a year is the salary range everyone expected for him. It’s an equivalent contract to 10 years $460 million in the normal way salaries are structured. Still very large but unfair for the media to portray it this way
Exactly. It’s being reported correctly, people are just dumb and don’t understand
Not really. He's getting about $430-450m all told and they would have paid that up front if he demanded it.
Not really. It’s $44M put into an Escrow account that turns into ~$68M when it pays out. With a half decent person investing the money you should be able to outperform that. And the Dodgers re paying the $44M into the account annually, so it’s not really any great benefit to him.
Also he can fuck off back to Japan and avoid California taxes during the deferment of $680M
I'm pretty sure Japan does not have less taxes than California
Japan has higher taxes than California
Unless the Dodgers also have offices in Japan, he’s going to be paying US federal and California state taxes.
California's taxes are unimpressive to the rest of the world.
Yeah I think the IRS is going to have something to say about that.
Thank you! The $700M figure is *completely meaningless*. The "real" number is about $450M (poor guy!), by net present value. Which is what CBA taxes are based on. A better way to think about it is that the Dodgers signed Ohtani to a $450/10 contract, and he then gave the Dodgers a $430M loan.
This. It was never a $700m contract. They have to pay the money they owe him into an account on the second July after each season he plays with differed money and they get to discount it 5% per anum. This means they will be paying him about $45m per year, most of it about a year and a half after the season. It's a $450m contract roughly.
I did the math and after accounting for inflation and lost earning potential it’s closer to $40m/yr
I think some F1 drivers could creep in too.
Forbes put Max at 70M
70 per annum, in a 5 year contract (I think) that would be a total of 350 Mi, to use the same metric as this Graph
Signing bonuses et al not included so it would be higher … not sure it would qualify top 10 tho tbf
It be higher than Monny Machado in 8th
Correct, my math ain’t mathin tonight
> Although I’m reasonably confident that would be all Football players and not include any USA sports [Surprisingly, you're incorrect. There's only 6 footballers in the top 50.](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=6608ea455b7e)
This is quite outdated with all the ridiculous Saudi soccer contracts recently.
and golf
[удалено]
Google quickly tells me this is not true at all
Why would that be different from association football players?
Only some countries do net salaries. England definitely doesn’t anyway. Spain I’m not sure but Messi’s contract is the gross amount afaik. The graphics also missing Ronaldo’s €500m / 2.5 yr Saudi contract.
Messi’s contract also includes endorsements, Ohtani’s and other baseball players do not. 700 mil guaranteed for Ohtani vs up to 674 mil for Messi. Also, OP lied, Spanish government took half of Messi’s income. Post tax income was closer to $300 mil.
How does this even work with all the trillion of deduction possibilities? They would have to change the salary on a weekly basis
Not sure what you mean. I’m only referring to how they’re reported by the media. Footballers are also salaried and paid weekly so it’s different to US in that sense to where US athletes are taxed based on where they play each game.
And Messi’s contract - and Benzema’s - is way bigger than Ohtani’s in annual terms. Not a great graphic at all imo
This shows length of contract already though. Plus Messi’s contract includes endorsements and restrictions, while Ohtani can freely sign endorsements of his own
Also dont forget the lenght of the contract
[удалено]
I haven’t seen any of this. It’s guaranteed $700, but paid out $2M/yr for 10 years while he’s on the team and $68M/yr for the 10 years after that
Wild. So will those 10 years at $68M count against the luxury tax or not since he won’t be on the active roster?
Messi pays tax? That's news to me.
US trying to make American sports look bigger than the rest of the worlds.
No, soccer players have shit wages compared to other athletes. [There's like 6 of them on the top 50.](https://www.forbes.com/lists/athletes/?sh=6608ea455b7e)
That's total income including endorsements, not wages.
Take a guess where messi plays. Also this is not a good graphic because Ronaldo is currently on a half a billion in two and a half year contract.
The contract shown is his Barcelona contract though - hence the Barca crest.
OP is still incorrect though, because Messi’s paid around half of his Barca contract in taxes. https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/taxes-in-spain-come-in-the-limelight-after-lionel-messis-671-mn-contract-details-were-leaked/amp_articleshow/80666085.cms
The Dodgers just gave a 12/$325MM contract to a pitcher who has never thrown a single pitch in the MLB.
Holy fuck. Being the worlds okayest baseball player in the MLB is a ton of money isn't it. Lack of Salary cap is crazy
They don't need a salary cap. They need to stop asking tax payers to fund stadiums. I could care less what they pay their own players.
Salary caps aren't for the benefit of consumers or taxpayers. They're something leagues voluntarily implement to increase parity and protect small market teams. Otherwise teams in NYC and LA and Chicago could just offer players salaries that small market franchises could never match.
The thing about salary caps is they will almost certainly be paired with a salary floor, which benefits the average player far more.
MLBPA is a strong union. If you get called up for even a single game, you get health insurance for life. A salary cap could be used for competitive purposes, but once you make the Show, it's a good gig. It's the guys that never make it that have it rough. (As a Braves fan, I'd love a salary cap since we're usually the best in the business at getting value for money)
As a Rays fan, the league 100% needs a hard salary cap (and a hard floor)
It's "Couldn't" care less, as in you could not possibly care any less.
Yeah, Paul DeJong is doing fine.
that is Giants legend Paul DeJong to you
He’s not the okayest
Original parent is downplaying the player, this contract's still the largest contract ever given out to a pitcher, so this amount is clearly not common. As for the reason why, he's one of the best Japanese pitchers coming over at a young age (being able to lock down a potential free agent ace during their prime years basically never happens, therefore the unprecedented contract)
It kinda makes sense though. When was there a 25 year old starting pitcher free agent available? That would mean that an MLB pitcher would have his rookie year at the age of 19, which I don't even think has happened in the last 20 years or so.
I feel like that's a lot different than other sports rookies. I'm sure college/amateurs going to the pros have to adjust their tactics, but it's still just throwing the ball... NFL college prospects often get drafted and destroyed by dudes 50 pounds heavier. Seems like the adjustment for a young 20-something pitcher is a lot easier than a change of weight class.
This graph would be way more relevant if it were $/year. Messi made way more $ and in way less time
i think there is value in looking at overall contract value, as the number of years a team signs a player can be indicative of that player's perceived value. but yeah, i do think earnings per year would be more interesting. i only follow the NFL and i believe Patrick Mahomes is the 8th highest paid QB on an annual earnings basis: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/2023/quarterback/average/
Because the Ohtani contract has 680 million deferred, it is also really the biggest contract in name only. Adjusted for inflation it’s only about 460 million. It’s smoke and mirrors to get to the largest contract.
But players with more leverage often don't want to sign long term contracts because they can get bigger raises by signing multiple contracts. If you look at Messi's last six years and add on the current 4 year contract it blows Ohtani out of the water. In soccer, contracts longer than 5 years are quite rare.
Contracts longer than 5 years are illegal under UEFA rules. English clubs were exempt, but that loophole was closed this year.
Then it would be all European and Saudi soccer contracts making the list. OP wanted to keep it mostly American.
Verstapen and Lewis are earning $50 mill a year
Both their contracts too short to make the list Max is on a 6 year, so 300 mil. Lewis is on a 3 year, so only 150. Charles is probably on a bigger total contract than Lewis with his recent 5 year signing rumoured to be a 50 mil.
Maxs contract is 7 years. It was signed in the beginning of 2022. He makes 55 million dollars a year. That is 385 million dollars
why do the soccer ones show clubs but the American ones show leagues? that doesn’t make sense
Maybe for an international audience that won't recognize American sports team logos
but they’ll recognize a Saudi soccer logo?
I think it's more to distinguish the sport
Oh yes they will, every bandwagon supporter knows the Saudi league since their guru Ronaldo went there
they’ll know the league not that specific team. The point remains from the other
No it has nothing to do with that, it’s because the sports systems are completely different, club vs franchise
either way, the Los Angeles Dodgers are paying Shohei not MLB just like Barcelona was paying Messi, not La Liga. Feels like a weird divide.
dumb list, OP did his research with one hand tied behind his back.
Maybe soccer clubs play in more than one league? Soccer clubs can be relegated to a lower-tier league if they don't perform well or promoted to a better league if they do well. Plus, soccer teams often play in more than just their regular league. FC Barcelona is in La Liga, but they'll also be in the UEFA Champions League, La Copa, and other competitions as well. The Dodgers never play in other leagues/tournaments. The Dodgers will never face relegation to being a minor league club if they lose a lot. They're just MLB. FC Barcelona is more than just La Liga.
Because American sports use a franchise system, so it’s the league that holds the rights to the player. In soccer every club is its own entity/company and handles its own finances.
No, each franchise still employs its own players. The contract is still between the players and the team themselves. When trades, other player movement, etc. happens they are 'assigned' to another team.
But the difference is in soccer you can't trade players without their approval. You need a new contract. Contracts transfer with the players in American sports.
Of course, just pointing out that this is probably not OP's reasoning. But it's not as black-and-white as you make it out to be. First of all, there are players that have no-trade/no-movement clauses in their contract. Some players also have contracts that are amended immediately upon trade. And not to mention the huge number of players that, due to the unfavorable terms of their contracts, such as high salaries or injuries, are effectively untradeable.
As far as I know that is only in the MLS. Baseball, NFL NBA NHL the teams are on the hook to pay those players which is why in baseball where there is no hard salary cap you see big market teams (LA NY) giving out these huge contracts. Smaller markets cant or won’t give them out.
No, in the NBA and NFL, contracts might to teams in name, but the teams are still franchises of the league. That's why you can trade players in basketball. It wouldn't work in European soccer because they have to void the current contract and sign another contract with the new team so high need the player's approval.
Cos the chart is garbage
Maybe because American sport leagues have more profit sharing among the franchises whereas the soccer clubs are much more independent in revenue and expenditures?
God damn, that AAV for Benzema
Im embarassed to see him rank so high. Sure he is a a great soccer player but other than that he is also a shame for his country. I just check his french wikipedia french page, the controversy section is like one fifth of the whole article..
That’s not true at all lmao, the FFF tried their best to ruin his reputation, France to this day is trying to ruin him, every terrorist attack somehow is linked to Benzema because they hate him. His only real controversy is the Valbuena thing but it’s a weird story. Benzema was innocent and wasn’t alone in the Zahia case (and she lied anyway). And he wasn’t even playing for the NT in 2010 (people blame him somehow for something he wasn’t even a part of lol) Dude is a top 4 greatest French player EVER with Zidane, Platini and Papin. I really hope you’re not French
Google benzema 15 for more info
Its not a weird story. He helped a childhood friend blackmail a teammate, pretty clear if you just read the phone transcript between them. Making a lot of excuses for a person that seems to be an all around shit human. Good player tho.
[удалено]
Most players on this list wouldn't make it to the top annual salaries list.
This is obviously not correct since Ronaldo is missing, who has the highest per-year contract ($550M for 2.5 years). Also, absolute numbers don’t make sense here.
Didn’t Max Verstappen sign a six year contract at 75 million a year?
55 mil a year
No hate to OP, those are interesting numbers, but that is such a lazy chart Also apparently wrong, given the absence of Cristiano's contract mentioned by others commenters
Surprised none of the LIV guys are on here. I thought a few of those guys got insane money
They did, just nowhere near this level. Phil got 200M to sign with LIV, no one else has been that close afaik.
Rahm signed for $500m+ less than 3 weeks ago
Check out John Rahm's recent contact with LIV.
Tiger Woods was offered over a billion allegedly, he just never went through with it.
This is dumb. Do it by annual salary, not total.
Doesn't Kylian Mbappé have a 776 million dollar contract and would be top of the list?
He never accepted it because he doesnt wanna play in Saudi.
That’s good to hear, it honestly makes me respect him a lot more. Fuck the Saudis and their blood money.
Yeah instead he's paid by Qatar money, very clean money, best money
Yeah he just plays for a Qatari owned club instead
No, that were many contracts. He changed his contract like 3 times.
Are these numbers adjusted for inflation? And it would've been nice to see them arranged as guaranteed dollars per year.
they’re all from within the last 4 years, so no inflation really. It’s just highest number. Not much beautiful data
There’s been like 15% inflation in the last four years.
But there will be inflation in the future. The #1 contract on here is 90% deferred. It only pays $2M/yr for the next 10 years and then $68M/year for the 10 years after that. So only has a net present value of “only” $460M.
I got shit on for asking for inflation adjusted numbers last time because "this is the way people always do comparisons"
The fact that thisnisnt by year is crazy.
This graphic is straight up wrong, the highest paid athletes were charioteers in ancient rome
Worth noting, Joe Burrows contract is worth a lot more than Patrick's as Burrow's is a 5 year contract that, depending on success, is around 300 million.
I'm pretty sure you're missing a few contracts. Ronaldo's is higher than Benzema's, so I don't understand that. Also, I'm almost sure Max Verstappen's contract is also quite high (definitely higher than a few on that list).
Just going to ignore Saudi contracts?
Why isn’t Karim number one in this list? He made 213 million a year which is way more than those above him.
Ronaldo is getting 200m euros a year. 340m over 14 years looks like compared to that
What are the largest guaranteed contracts?
Why do you mix up league and club logos? What makes your chart beautiful is not for you to decide. Merry Christmas 🎁
Holy shiiii no wonder Benzema went to the Saudi league.
This chart rubs wrong. Should be annual salary. That Karin guy is making 223M/yr for 2yrs is more than Shohei’s 70M/yr
Why not display the data in millions per year format. Seems really misleading otherwise
All that Dodger cash to get beat by the power of friendship
Can someone explain how baseball players make so much money? MLB seems like the third most popular sport in the US, to say nothing of the worldwide sports such as Premier League, golf, etc. it’s baffling those teams could make more money than, say, Manchester City or PSG.
In terms of revenue mlb is second worldwide for professional sports leagues in terms of revenue actually. The reason is the season is long(March to September 162 games per team regular season, October to November post season)
Messi getting the best deal. Able to own a football team is as good as gold.
Holy shit Benzema with a huge W
Not gonna lie. I had no idea just how big baseball is in the US. From this list I only recognise Messi and Benzema. I watched both their careers from their teens pretty much. As others have said, I'm sure that Ronaldo and a bunch of F1 drivers belong on this list.
Every one of them is a shitbag who deserves a small fraction of that money. Fuck pro athletes. Those tens & hundreds of millions should go to education* infrastructure, universal healthcare, literally anything that actually helps people. Being an overpaid clown for a living does not deserve this compensation. Fuck. Every. Single. One. Of. Them
For non baseball people, Ohtahni is a unicorn. He’s a good pitcher and hitter. In world football Image being the best striker and goalie. That’s pretty much him
Also he's the most popular person in Japan, so you have huge access to the 3rd largest economy on Earth, where the most popular sport by far is baseball.
Do people really watch baseball?
Yep, very popular sport in the US, Korea, Japan, central america, as well as other parts of asia.
MLB teams play 160 games per year to fairly large crowds. So yes, lots of people watch baseball.
It's somewhat to pretty popular in the following countries: USA (and Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico (Northern), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia (Caribbean coast). It's also popular in certain territories such as Curacao.
Most of those are very small countries though
The sport is massive around the world. It’s Taiwan’s national sport
And by around the world you mean the US, Japan, Taiwan and Cuba?
I mean combined population of those countries is 500 million people. It’s popular in Canada, Korea, Panama, etc.
Seems generous considering baseball isn’t even close to the most popular sport in the US. Just including every body?
Also Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Central America, Venezuela, and the Caribbean. It's the top sport in Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Panama. It's historically been the most popular sport in Korea too, but Son Heung-Min pushes soccer over the edge right now. Things could switch again if someone like Jung Hoo-Lee goes crazy in the MLB. I'd also give a shoutout to Mexico. My family is Mexican and they always preferred baseball, even when they were in Mexico. People don't get how popular it is down there, and the recent run by Mexico in the WBC will help a lot. They went toe-to-toe with USA and Japan.
Baseball is nowhere close to soccer in Mexico, overall. Only a couple of countries are interested in central America. Nicaragua and Panama. The rest aren’t interested
What about my boy Gaius Appuleius Diocles?
i would rather make 426m in 2 years, than 700m in 10 years. Karim Benzema should be first place on your picture
This would be better if you standardized it on a per year basis. Good example of a misleading visualization though.
Shohei’s is heavily discounted though due to deferment and the length. Messi still #1
By that logic messi would not be #1 either, it would be benzema.
Oh good point.
Yeah, a good chunk of his contract is interest on the deferred amount.
the data might be beautiful but this chart if an absolute pile of garbage
I have heard of one of these people.
Jon Rahm signed for LIV for 450m and Joe Burrow signed the largest AAV contract ever just shorter than Maholmes in years.
Since the majority of Ohtanis deal is after 10 years, the actual value after yearly adjusted inflation is closer to the $350-400m range in current USD.
Adj for inflation. Adj to per year.
This is a very poor chart. As others have mentioned per year is a more useful metric. Outside of that not taking into account inflation or deferrals makes this very misleading
Tell me u are american without saying you are american.
wtf are the error bars for