Baseball star Juan Soto is set to sign the biggest contract in the history of professional sports that even dwarfs Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning Saudi Pro League contract.
The Associated Press claim former New York Yankees superstar Soto, now a free agent, has agreed a record-breaking 15-year contract with their cross-city rivals, the New York Mets.
He is set to earn $765 million (£600m) over the course of his contract with the Major League Baseball side.
Soto’s deal is the largest and longest in MLB history, surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million (£548m), 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers – which was signed last December.
A four-time All-Star at age 26, Soto first made his MLB debut with the Washington Nationals in 2018 when he was just 19.
And he is now set to write his name into the history books when he makes the move across New York.
While Soto’s deal is slightly bigger than Ohtani’s, it completely dwarfs the biggest contracts currently on offer in football.
Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the world’s highest-paid footballer, with Al Nassr giving him a three-year contract worth around £558m – which works out at an astonishing £186m per season, according to the Daily Mail.
Sky Sports News report that Neymar is on around £129.4m per season at Al Hilal, adding up to just over £388m over the course of his three-year contract.
Lionel Messi, meanwhile, is reported to be on a relatively low salary of around $20.4m (£16m) at Inter Miami, working out at around £40m over the course of his two-and-a-half-year deal with the MLS club.
Soto is set to sign the biggest deal in pro sports history (Image: Getty)
Remarkably, Soto’s wages over the course of his contract dwarf the combined career earnings of NBA legend LeBron James and NFL superstar Tom Brady.
SportsCenter report that James and Brady earned a combined $761 million (£596m) from their salaries, less than Soto’s new deal.
Why are top baseball players paid so much?
Unlike other sports in the US, the MLB does not have a salary cap or maximum contracts – allowing top players to earn higher wages than those in the NFL, NBA and MLS.
USA Today report that the baseball player union MLBPA is relatively strong compared to those of other major sports, further strengthening its members’ earning potential.
Another reason given for the astronomical contracts for top players is the disparity in earnings between established members of MLB squads, and less experienced players – who typically earn far less.
The quality of baseball players is said to be more quantifiable than in other sports, thanks to the comprehensiveness of the MLB’s statistics – making huge contracts a less risky investment.
Meanwhile, the sheer number of games in the MLB season also leads to huge TV deals and bigger contracts for players, with each team playing a whopping 162 games in the regular season.