Examining the Highest Paid Athlete Contracts

By Richard Janvrin Contributor Updated: 02 May 2024

Richard Janvrin Contributor

Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today. 

See Full Bio

Mega Player Contracts in Sports

There was a time not long ago, around the turn of the century, when the New England Patriots signed quarterback Drew Bledsoe to a $100 million contract over ten years. In terms of a highest paid athlete contract, this ranked toward the top of the list.

In 2024, we’re seeing contracts in the quarters of billions of dollars. At this rate, the first billion-dollar contract isn’t too far behind. Shoot, the best online NFL betting site may soon have odds available for who the first billion-dollar contract player will be — who knows.

Below, we’ll not only examine the largest athlete contracts, but we’ll look at some factors that have contributed to these contracts scaling the way they have.

The Current Largest Athlete Contracts

Right now, in March 2024, the most significant athlete contract belongs to Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani, who signed a ten-year, $700 million deal.

However, when you look up and down the list of highest athlete contracts, you’ll find that there are two above $500 million and eight worth $350 million or more.

These include the following:

Shohei Ohtani: Ten years, $700 million
Lionel Messi: Four years, $674 million
Patrick Mahomes: Ten years, $450 million
Karim Benzema: Two years, $426 million
Mike Trout: 12 years, $426.5 million
Mookie Betts: 12 years, $365 million
Aaron Judge: Nine years, $360 million
Manny Machado: 11 years, $350 million
Francisco Lindor: 10 years, $341 million
Fernando Tatis Jr.: 14 years, $340 million

As mentioned, the Patriots signed Drew Bledsoe to a ten-year, $103 million deal in 2001. However, a year before, Alex Rodriguez of Major League Baseball signed a ten-year, $275 million contract in 2000. Rodriguez’s contract back then was simply astounding, especially compared to Bledsoe’s.

How have these contracts come to be? What elements at work have allowed these top athlete contracts to become possible? Below, we’ll examine some possible factors.

Lack of Salary Cap
Globalization of Sports
Sports Media Deals
Highest Paid Athlete Contract Wrap Up

Lack of Salary Cap

If you look at the highest paid athlete contract right now, it belongs to an MLB player. In fact, in the top ten list above, there are seven MLB players. These players will always have the biggest athlete contract simply because the rules allow it. What do we mean? There’s no salary cap.

Of the four major United States sports, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, Major League Baseball is the only one without a salary cap. Depending on your owner, you can spend until your content is ready.

Sure, there’s the luxury tax, but for someone willing to spend $700 million on a single human being, that’s hardly enough to deter them. The luxury or Competitive Balance Tax is meant to act as a soft salary cap. If you exceed a certain monetary figure in a single year, you’ll have to pay extra money as a penalty.

For the 2024 MLB season, that number is $237 million. If a team goes beyond that, they pay a 20% tax on all overages. If they do it two years in a row, there’s a hard 30%, which then goes to 50% in the third year.

The figures can add up quickly, but when owners have billions of dollars and a drive to win, you can expect them to overlook that and make it work financially.

Globalization of Sports

Whether it’s American sports going to other countries or sports like F1, which have had a footprint in the United States, but not as vast, but increasing that with events like the Las Vegas race in 2023, the globalization of sports has resulted in more income streams, which trickle down to the clubs, allowing for more spending.

The NFL has games played in multiple places outside the United States, including London, Germany, Mexico City, and, in 2024, Brazil.

Major League Baseball has played in countries like Japan, Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

For the NHL, they’ve played in numerous European countries.

For example, the NFL’s game in Germany in 2022 was a massive economic success. According to the NFL, their debut in Germany in 2022 had a total economic impact of 70.2 million euros for the city of Munich, including 32.2 million euros in direct spending. Fans spent an average of 333 euros per day in Munich during the game, and there was a global audience of 8.2 million people.

Sure, there are multiple factors contributing to the NFL salary cap’s increase, but it’s fair to say the globalization of the game is helping.

Since 2021, look at these NFL salary cap figures:

2021: $182.5 million
2022: $208.2 million
2023: $224.8 million
2024: $255.4 million

Looking back at 2000, it was $62.17 million, and in 2011 it was a mere $120.6 million.

The increases there have helped lead to contracts like Mahomes’ $450 million pact with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sports Media Deals

In a day and age where content is king, and numerous services are getting in on the mix, including Amazon, Apple, ESPN, CBS, Fox, and more, media deals to be the home of sporting events have also led to additional income for leagues, which only increases their salary caps and spending.

According to Sportico, there are several deals across numerous sports. Let’s examine those.

The NFL has six notable sports media deals: YouTube, Fox, NBS, CBS, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon Prime Video. These deals equate to approximately $12.4 billion. None of these deals expire before 2029.

For the NBA, they have deals totaling $2.6 billion, MLB is closing to $2 billion, and more.

Per Sportico, of the 100 most-watched United States television broadcasts, football held 97 spots, with one of the spots being the Super Bowl lead-out. So you could say 98 of the top 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2023 were football-related, whether the NFL or college.

Sports have a massive monopoly on the television broadcast and streaming markets, and as a result, these massive deals will continue to be signed, which will help generate the next biggest athlete contract.

Highest Paid Athlete Contract Wrap Up

Although there are many factors, it’s safe to say we can expect athlete contracts to continue to grow. The fact is that sports is not only a sport, but it’s massive show business and is the most-watched content on the planet today, whether in the United States or abroad.

In 2022, over five billion people engaged in the World Cup.

So, between these sports globalizing more and more, the media deals being signed, and, in the case of baseball, a lack of salary cap, the money is going to continue to fly.

Expect the biggest athlete contract to soon become $1 billion or more.