This month, the Padres officially locked in Fernando Tatis Jr. with an astounding $340 million deal, the highest the Padres have ever paid for a player and the longest contract in MLB history. Though this is a huge amount of money, Tatis Jr. is still just the 6th-highest-paid athlete today.
Here are the current most expensive sports contracts in the world—keep in mind that these numbers are purely contracts, which means endorsements are not factored in. This list also excludes contracts in which the details are not publicly known, such as Ronaldo’s.
4. Mookie Betts: $365,000,000
The World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are one of the most well-funded MLB teams and have been known to spend absurd amounts of money on their players. The MLB also has no salary cap, which allows for such transactions. Baseball contracts currently hold 12 of the 15 spots on the list of highest contracts in sports. The Boston Red Sox traded Betts to the Dodgers, used mostly as a negotiating tool, and was a move that will haunt the organization forever. Betts is not only on the fast track to becoming one of the best players in the game, but he is also a stellar character. Betts’ marketability is worth so much more than the Red Sox valued him at, and he is clearly more than just a bargaining chip.
3. Mike Trout: $426,000,000
Outfielder Mike Trout is the current best player in baseball and boasts a massive contract to back it up. The contract binds Trout to the Los Angeles Angels for 12 years—until he is 39 years old. Though the contract is huge, and Mike Trout will make more money in the coming decade than most people can even dream about making in their life, many people wonder why he isn’t paid more. He is miles ahead of any other Angels player, and is pretty much unanimously agreed upon as the best player in the MLB right now—some even say that at age 29, he’s already the best baseball player ever.
2. Patrick Mahomes: $503,000,000
It’s no surprise that the Kansas City Chiefs star, one of the best quarterbacks in football, earns as much as he does. The 25-year-old currently sits on a 503 million dollar contract spanning over 12 years (ending in 2031). This evens out to around 42 million dollars a year. Mahomes has transformed the Chief’s offence, taking them to the SuperBowl for the past two years. His contract marks the largest salary in the history of U.S. sports and stands at the NFL’S largest contract by far. The second-highest NFL salary belongs to Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans at 177.5 million dollars over 6 years, which pales in comparison to Mahomes’ numbers.
1. Lionel Messi: $673,919,105
The number-one spot goes to Messi, the FC Barcelona phenomenon, and arguably the best athlete in the world. The 673 million dollar covers four years, which averages out to over 168 million dollars a year, $14,039,981 a month, $461,537 a day, $19,230 an hour, $321 a minute and $5.34 a second. Just sitting on the couch for two minutes, Lionel Messi banks over 600 dollars. Wow. It makes sense—one of the most talented soccer players in history playing the most popular sport on the planet is bound to be paid a ton. Prior to the details of his contract being leaked, it was estimated that Messi made somewhere around 120 million dollars, which is obviously very far off.