- Juan Soto’s $765m move to the Mets tops the list of biggest deals in sports history
- Major League Baseball dominates the richest deals list
- Soto deal eclipses Shohei Ohtani’s $700m contract with the LA Dodgers
Juan Soto was never going to come cheap. That’s what happens when you’re a four-time All Star outfielder at the age of 26 and you hit free agency. You can command a contract that takes the great Shohei Ohtani’s spot at the top of the list of the biggest deals in sports history.
Soto will cost the New York Mets $765m over the course of the next 15 years, with the Dominican superstar earning every penny of that while an active player (as opposed to Ohtani, who has deferred the majority of his Dodgers salary until after his retirement). If the World Series winning outfielder can take the Mets back to the promised land of a World Championship, which they have not won since 1986, their fans will see it as money well spent by billionaire owner Steve Cohen. Although for over three quarters of a billion dollars, Mets fans will likely be hoping for more than one World Series over the next decade-and-a-half.
The Soto deal is yet another in a long-line of budget shattering deals that have taken place not just across Major League Baseball, but across the NFL, NBA and various soccer leagues around the world.
Franchises are seemingly more willing than ever to break records (and bank balances) for the right players, who they believe can inspire them to year upon year of success. Sometimes billions are spent in order to boost a league operation with immediate prestige and intrigue, as has been attempted in Saudi Arabian soccer over the last few years (and likewise unsuccessfully in Qatar, China and Russia).
But which players have cost the most over the course of sporting history? Who else, other than Ohtani, has Juan Soto overtaken atop the list?
With the exception of the aforementioned Mets and Dodgers men, here are the top 10 biggest deals in sports history.
THE BIGGEST DEALS IN SPORTS HISTORY
1. Lionel Messi – $674m, FC Barcelona (2017-2021)
Two years removed from their last Champions League triumph, Barca were desperate to hold onto Leo Messi and threw A LOT of money at the Carlton Banks sized Argentine genius. While the money did bring with it a ton of goals and assists, not to mention a further two La Liga titles, it wasn’t enough to help maintain the Catalan club’s dominance of Europe, which they had previously enjoyed under Pep Guardiola, with their Champions League victories in 2009 and 2011. Messi would depart for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, upon the expiry of his record breaking deal.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – $536m, Al Nassr (2023-2025)
Where one goes, the other usually follows. So it’s no surprise to see Cristiano Ronaldo hot on the heels of Lionel Messi on this list. The Portuguese goalscoring phenom left Manchester United under a cloud at the end of 2022, after 18 miserable months back at Old Trafford. However, the then 37-year-old didn’t have any suitors for his extortionate wage demands in Europe, which paved the way for Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr to make the Portugal captain their marquee signing at the beginning of 2023. Eighty goals in 89 games and an Arab Club Champions Cup later and Al Nassr are likely regarding their monster outlay as being well worth the extraordinary expense.
3. Patrick Mahomes – $503m, Kansas City Chiefs (2020-2031)
Fresh off quarterbacking the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory as MVP in February, 2020, Mahomes signed a 10-year deal worth $477m with another potential $26m in bonuses. It has proven to be the best half a billion dollars the Chiefs will ever spend, with Mahomes guiding Kansas to back-to-back Super Bowl successes in 2023 and 2024.
4. Karim Benzema – $447m, Al-Ittihad (2023-2025)
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner is the joint-most decorated player in Real Madrid history (alongside Marcelo) and it is this career’s worth of relentless silverware hoarding that allowed Benzema to command such a staggering salary from Al-Ittihad, in 2023. For a two year contract, the five-time Champions League winning striker is pocketing an astronomical $447m. But, with only a few months remaining on his contract, the former Lyon forward is yet to add to his trophy collection in Saudi. Maybe another couple of hundred mil will manage to rectify that?
5. Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels, $426.5m (2019-2030)
The Dodgers aren’t the only MLB franchise in LA to have been splashing the cash in recent years. The Angels went hog wild for Mike Trout in 2019, securing the 11-time All Star and three-time American League MVP to a mammoth 11-year deal worth a nudge north of $426m. An Angel since 2011, the 33-year-old will remain with the franchise for the remainder of his career under his 2019 deal. Although the Angels have been unable to secure a World Series in that time, Trout has more than proven his worth, with the 2012 Rookie of the Year winning three of his nine Silver Slugger awards following the signing of the contract, as well as being named to three All-MLB First Teams.
6. Mookie Betts – $365m, Los Angeles Dodgers (2021-2032)
When you arrive in a city as a World Series champion and then deliver another to your new franchise in your debut season, a contract the size of California is sure to follow. And that’s precisely what the Dodgers delivered to Mookie Betts after the former Red Sox shortstop brought World Championship glory to the Dodgers for the first time since 1988, in 2020. Alongside the likes of fellow humongous salary haver Shohei Ohtani, Betts helped bring the Series title back to the city of Angels this past summer, after a 4-1 series win over the New York Yankees. Betts has been named an All-Star in every year since signing his extension with the Dodgers and has been named to the All-MLB First Team three times, as well.
7. Canelo Alvarez – $365m, DAZN (2018-2023)
While not signed to a sporting franchise, Saul Canelo Alvarez was signed to a five-year contract with streaming service DAZN in 2018, off the back of his two prize fights against Gennady Golovkin, both of which surpassed a million pay-per-view buys. However, the deal would only last until 2020, at which point Canelo filed a lawsuit against DAZN and Golden Boy Promotions, citing breach of contract. Instead of the original 11 agreed upon fights over the course of five years, Canelo ended up fighting only three times under the DAZN deal – defeating Rocky Fielding, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev.
8. Aaron Judge – $360m, New York Yankees (2023-2031)
Maintaining the theme of MLB franchises paying through the nose to either attract star players to their teams or to simply keep the All-Stars already in their possession, the Yankees went hell for leather to keep Aaron Judge on their roster, last year, tying the Home Run merchant down for another nine seasons for $360m. Judge’s HR heroics led the Yankees to the World Series this year, albeit in a losing effort against the Dodgers. The six-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger will be hoping to go one better in 2025, albeit with Juan Soto now turning out for the Mets across town in NYC.
9. Manny Machado – $350m, San Diego Padres (2023-2034)
Upon signing with the Padres in 2019, Machado signed a 10-year contract worth $300m. It was the largest free-agent contract in American sports history at the time. After four homer heavy seasons in San Diego, the 32-year-old was signed to an even bigger deal, which includes a full no-trade provision. As well as receiving the Silver Slugger award for the 2024 season, Machado also surpassed Nate Colbert’s record of 164 Home Runs to become the Padres all-time leading HR leader, after homering off the Mariners’ George Kirby in September.
10. Francisco Lindor – $341m, New York Mets (2022-2031)
‘Mr.Smile’ was a huge part of the Mets run to the NLCS last season, where they came up short against eventual World Series champions the LA Dodgers. Lindor’s heroics should come as no surprise to any Mets fans or members of the front office, however, as the Puerto Rican has long been a favourite at Citi Field since his arrival from the Cleveland Indians in 2021. As a recipient of Silver Slugger awards in 2023 and 2024, alongside finishing runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the voting for the National League’s MVP this past season, Lindor will be hoping to have plenty more to smile about in 2025 with Juan Soto joining him from the Yankees, as the Mets seek to go even further into the post-season.
With several MLB teams looking to bolster their rosters before next season, there’s always a chance some major moves could be made over the coming months. But could any of them end up on the list of the biggest deals in sports history?
