Talk:List of largest sports contracts

This article was nominated for deletion on 28 nov 2006. The result of the discussion was keep.

I see no reason under the deletion policy to delete this article. It is a little awkward but still contains interesting information. Moomot 19:14, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw signed a 999 trillion dollar deal for 7 years, the largest ever for a pitcher on January 15th, 2014. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.107.253.43 (talk) 21:40, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

 P.S. YOU SMELL LIKE CRAP

Ryan Braun

Ryan Braun's contract needs adding

[1] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.91.239.10 (talk) 20:08, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

IM A CHEATER — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.241.42.178 (talk) 19:40, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Contract worth $ 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 A year! 7 year contract.

Michael Jordan

Can someone get his figures, I know he'd be REALLY up there.

Thanks!!!

This says he signed a one-year $33-36 million contract in 1997. This says he signed an eight-year, $25 million contract in 1988. His 2001 contract with the Wizards was for the veteran's minimum. I might be missing one, I don't know, but it doesn't seem like any of his could be above $100 million. Recury 18:53, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

This is a poor wikipedia page because it only accounts for contracts above $100 million, spread over years. It should simply be highest annual salary, which means Michael Jordan's 1996-97 $30 million single season contract should be on this. It is despicable that it is not. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.100.25.6 (talk) 00:56, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

The human race has fracked up priorities

Hey, frack cancer or hunger. Let's give hundreds of millions of dollars to people to dance on a field or ocurt. Yeah!

-G

not a message board, as you well know. Quadzilla99 02:30, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

We need any article on sports and their payouts. This could be the start of a critism section...--Viridis 03:25, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

It's a little concept called 'Supply and Demand', which exists in the free market economy. You might want to look that up. Feudonym (talk) 07:03, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

American Only

This is an American only article isn't it?

• No - This article is international. It's just that American sports franchises are in the business of shelling out long term, high-paying deals, whereas in UEFA, franchises usually only sign players for up to 4-5 years. I think Ronaldinho's contract is around 85 million USD, which doesn't make the cut on this list. Whoppersnapper 03:06, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Wow, I didn't know that. Soccer doesn't even make it in there. Is there a wiki for soccer-only ? Or maybe the top three for each sport ? Preroll (talk) 14:49, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Transfer (association football) has a good list of highest transfer fees but I don't know of one specifically for soccer contracts. Recury (talk) 18:55, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Cristiano Ronaldo should be there. His first contract with Real Madrid was €13mil for 6 years. I don't think he's the highest paid soccer player either. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Striker161 (talk • contribs) 16:17, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Beckham

Los Angeles Galaxy, not New York.

Please note Beckham's salary is NOT $50 million a year, that is his expect total earnings, after endorsements, etcetera [[2]]. Do not insert it into the article.

--Spirit2112 21:23, 12 January 2007 (UTC) IMHO, I am doubtful that Beckham's contract will really value anywhere near $50 Million. MLS soccer teams typically struggle financially and are not likely profitable; thus there wouldn't be any profits to share with him. I'm sure his presence will have a positive impact on the MLS and the LA club in particular, but his presence alone will not lift professional soccer into the "big-time" US sports. If your not convinced, ask yourself what would be the impact on the Indy Racing League (open-wheel auto racing) if Michael Schumacher were to join the league. Sure he'd have an impact, but it wouldn't move the sport substantially in the minds of the average US sports fan. They are European sport stars, not US sport stars, essentially. US fans are too caught up in the established sports (American Football, Basketball, Baseball and even Hockey - in Hockey towns). My $0.02.

I think the question one has to ask is -- was the contract value $250 million? Did it say on paper that he'll eventually have $250 million -- guaranteed? Therefore, I'd think he did sign a contract for $250 million and it would be #1. But, I do find some of the information about his contract to be lacking and I honestly don't understand how much he'll actually make when it's all said and done.The Invisible Man 22:24, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Do you guys think people will stop adding him to the list a couple days from now or will it just be like this forever? Recury 23:55, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

If they do, hit them with this link [3] it's not even $10 million a year. SirFozzie 23:58, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, his contract is worth $100 million. He get's $10 million a year salary, and $10 million a year in club profits. $20 million in one year; $100 million in the five years, which puts him joint 24th on the list. BBC News. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 144.173.6.66 (talk) 21:38, 13 January 2007 (UTC).

The Soccernet link said the offer two weeks ago was 9 mil per, 4-year contract. It's been well publicized the deal was a five-year deal, which even the Soccernet link acknowledges. 71.146.42.248 17:32, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

The bottom line is that it inludes salary and endorsements. I think it should just be listed @ the top w/ an asterik. We shouldn't be guessing an exact amount, just saying what was reported - 250 Mil (reportedly includes salary and endorsements) 66.30.130.133 05:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

beckham had his own reason for getting such high pay. he is considered one of the most gifted player in europe, yet he travelled to USA, somewhere where soccer wasn't even popular. He had pretty much sacrificed his career signing with a less famed team. its not surprising he receives a high pay as a result in my opinion, (or he would had rather stayed in a promising football club like milan etc) plus its been 2 years since the last talk about beckham, is his contract denied yet? can anyone clarify this? thanks btw this article really seems USA based only.. this people are claimed to be receiving big money than any football players I knew and I don't even know anything about them until I saw this article.. And no I lived neither in USA nor europe. Dsdsasds (talk) 14:48, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Formula 1 Drivers

Anyone want to find more sources on this? I'm not sure how long Alonso's contract is, but his pay is right up there w/ Schumacher's. [[4]] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.206.215.18 (talk) 14:40, 12 January 2007 (UTC).

This and this say about $40 million per year, which would corroborate your source. This article from 2005 says his contract is for "a maximum of" 4 years, which would put him on the list. I'd wait until we get something a little clearer about his contract length before adding him though. Recury 15:19, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm almost positive Fernando's McLaren contract expires in 2009 The Dunnie —The preceding signed but undated comment was added at 21:36, August 22, 2007 (UTC).

All-Time Adjusted

It would be nice to see a list of all-time largest sports contracts, adjusted for inflation. But it would be extremely difficult to find that information, and I'm not sure if that list would be substantially different than this one. I can't help but noting that all but four of these were signed in 2000 or later. What would be doable though is also listing the salaries averaged per year, or a seperate chart for largest (average) salary per year. A lot of these look really huge but are actually over 10 or 11 years, and I can think of players signing one and two year deals for $20M or soething. PolarisSLBM 18:04, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Agree on the averaging per year. It seems a particularly American thing to measure the total value. Most European football contracts are expressed in a per week way which is easier to compare Morganr 19:33, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

This list is the largest contracts, not the largest yearly value. I wouldn't have a problem with a second list on this page for that, though. However, I don't think a weekly value list should be included, because of possible conflicts (NFL players are only paid for 16 weeks a year excluding playoffs, for example, making their weekly salary much higher even though the yearly value is similar) and redundancy (if the conflicts were eliminated, it would just be the yearly / 52). --SodiumBenzoate 22:04, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

There are many links on the web for converting dollars into values adjusted for inflation. For example, this link at cgi.money.cnn.com allows you to plug in a dollar amount at today's value and choose a year to revalue it to. Few of the contracts in this article need adjustment, but note that US$1 is US$0.82 in 1996 dollars (or, equivalently, US$1 in 1996 = US$1.22 in 2005). Perhaps adding a single "Adjusted Amount" column or a parenthetical amount would suffice. — Loadmaster 00:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Annual Salaries

We need to get a highest annual salary list. Also Beck's contract is misleading because it includes endorsements which virtually no other contract does. Jordan was making $35 million a year in salary alone and should be #1 all-time. He also made $80-100 million a year in endorsements I believe. However he signed single year contracts. Quadzilla99 02:30, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, beckham needs to come off the list. Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 02:43, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Keep in mind the heading of this article. It deals specifically with sports contracts. Annual salaries should be a separate post, or if they are combined, the heading should be changed Whoppersnapper 03:05, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm saying start a list of highest single season salaries and also highest average yearly salary. Quadzilla99 08:43, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, agreed. Current article is useless as it does not include players that earn great amount by signing a series of short term deal. For example, soccer players may earn more than those on the current list but are excluded due to short-term deals. This article is bias towards American sports. Perhaps an article relating to sports only related earnings (no endorsements) in a calender year should be created (thus golf and tennis players can be included)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Striker161 (talk • contribs) 16:22, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Someone else's turn to catch everyone putting Beckham in

I'm going to bed :P SirFozzie 07:37, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Why is the main page even linking to this article? People keep adding Beckham in because of they expected to see him in the #1 or #2 slot with the $250M package that has been widely reported on the news. --Kralizec! (talk) 17:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

* and retired players

is it redundant to have an asterisk next to a retired player's team? I think it's quite obvious that the player no longer plays on that (or any) team. Im.a.lumberjack 21:52, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning should be on this list. He's the highest paid NFL player in history. 99 million dollar contract, 35 million signing bonus, 19 million in incentives (which I'ms ure he got after winning the Super Bowl). He makes more than Vick and Palmer.

Yes, you're right. I've added him. Recury 13:11, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually, Vick is the highest paid player in NFL history with a $130m contract and $37m in signing bonus. Alldaiallnite 02:41, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Another column

Might it be useful to create another column, with the salary per year? it may make comparison easier for contracts with different lengths. just a thought. - Im.a.lumberjack 21:53, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

• Although it would be nice to have this collumn, it wouldn't be an accurate representation of annual earnings because of signing bonuses. For example, Donovan McNabb's 12-year contract includes a $20 million signing bonus, meaning his annual earnings are less than the total dollars of his deal divided over 12 years. Whoppersnapper 19:59, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Although there is a caveat in the intro, I was thinking the exact same thing. ~ Rollo44 01:17, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

• Per Year Average is a more representative name for the new collumn. The collumn lists the total dollars divided over the number or years. It's an average, by definition. Actual dollars earned for most athletes differ from year to year of their contract. Whoppersnapper 05:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Michael Vick

Can someone explain how Vick is listed above 5 people who have larger contracts than he? Jfiling 23:55, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Someone probably was just messing with his numbers. The reference says his contract was $167,000,000 not $137,000,000. I fixed it. Recury 13:54, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Unless I'm reading it wrong, the reference states that his contract is $130,000,000, with $37,000,000 guaranteed in the form of bonuses. Other sources I find say the same. I just don't want to edit unless there is clear proof one way or the other, but it seems to me he should rank 8th on the list Jfiling 22:16, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Like it says in the first paragraph of the article, we would count a bonus like that as part of the contract. I think the idea is to eliminate optional money like player options or performance-based incentives, which makes sense to me. Recury 23:22, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Todd Helton

He is on the list twice, does anyone know why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.198.88.62 (talk) 02:35, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Someone changed Mike Hampton's entry to Todd Helton. The link for that entry is mostly about Helton's contract, but has info about Hampton's too, so I think that's probably what got confused. I changed it back. Recury 13:15, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Lewis Hamilton

He recently signed a contract rumoured to be worth $138 million over 5 years. But until more concrete details are available, they shouldn't be added to the list. --Madchester (talk) 17:02, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Rashard Lewis

His salary numbers are wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.108.100.88 (talk) 06:48, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Most expensive contracts per year

If everyone thinks having the list go by the most money per year is better than I am fine with that. Until then, please follow the inclusion criteria so the list doesn't spiral out of control. If we decide to change the list, then a rename and a change of inclusion criteria are probably in order too. We could also have two separate lists, but that would be harder to maintain. Recury (talk) 16:53, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

I feared one day this list would grow too large. Perhaps an entry encompassing the entire breadth of sports salaries is a better reflection of what is really out there. "Largest Sports Salaries" or "Highest Earnings by Athletes" could represent the entire article. Then sub-titles could include: (1) largest contracts (this article); (2) highest annual earnings (but is this measured before or after signing bonuses?); (3) highest career earnings. All endorsement deals should be excluded. I also think per-game earnings is useless. We're talking a major overhaul and very lengthy research to bring it all together.Whoppersnapper (talk) 01:16, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

The best paid athlete of all times was a charioteer named Gaius Appuleius Diocles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.69.57.191 (talk) 19:55, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

I'd definitely prefer a yearly list. Also, it would be nice to split the lists up by sport, European sports contracts are absolutely dwarfed by the insane American contracts which are generally much (2 to 3 times) longer. More importantly, some sports like auto racing and boxing are considerably more dangerous or intense and as such they kind of don't fit in here at all. KarstenO (talk) 13:03, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Joey votto

Joey Votto Just Signed a 10 Year $225 Million contract — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.7.48.175 (talk) 00:05, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano's contract value in 2009 is written as 102M$ when the source states 80M£. The conversion is not correct. Changing it would make him go up in the table, and I don't know how to do it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.81.255.130 (talk) 19:47, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

How did Messi's contract start in 2008?

So I just looked at the source that was quoted, 2 of them are from 2012, and one of them is from 2014.

The CBC source from 2014 claims "The 26-year-old Messi will earn a reported $27 million US per season with further incentives able to drive the deal up to $34 million per year until the contract ends in 2017-18 ". Some quick math says that from 2014-2015 season to the 2017-2018 season (3 seasons) at 27 million comes down to 81 million? I don't see how they got the 400 million number, none of the sources mentioned it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.151.148.240 (talk) 00:28, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Figure for Sebastian Vettel is incorrect

The source for the figure in the chart (http://www.totalsportek.com/f1/sebastian-vettel-ferrari-contract-worth-240-million/) posted a correction that puts the contract at 3 years, 110 million or up to 130 million if he hits all of the bonus requirements. ElBurroGrande (talk) 15:55, 13 April 2015 (UTC)