Biggest deals in sports history ft. Juan Soto, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

New Delhi: Dominican baseball player Juan Soto has signed an eye-watering $765m (£600m) deal with Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, making it the biggest contract in the sport’s history. The deal spanning a period of 15 years was confirmed on Wednesday after the 26-year-old superstar completed a medical.

Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen termed Soto’s signing as a seminal moment in the franchise’s history and hailed the ballplayer as a “generational talent”.

Soto, a star outfielder, was MLB’s most in-demand free agent this off-season following a stellar season with the New York Yankees. Only three players hit more home runs than Soto, whose contract includes a $75m (£58.7m) signing bonus.

Soto’s Mets deal surpasses the $700m (£558m) 10-year contract that Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023.

Soto’s new deal is understood to be the biggest and most lucrative in professional sports in total value.

Pant’s IPL contract pales in comparison

When Rishabh Pant became the highest-paid cricketer in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), after bagging a whopping Rs 27 crores (approximately $3.1 million) in the mega-auction, it was considered a watershed moment in Indian sport’s history, especially in monetary terms.

But Soto’s contract and some of the other mega-deals in American sports dwarfs Pant’s IPL contract with the Lucknow Super Giants. If we break down Soto’s earnings, the southpaw will make more than $50 million per year for the next decade and a half. In soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi bagged lucrative contracts in the Saudi Pro League and Major League Soccer (MLS) respectively.

Biggest contracts in sports history

 Juan Soto’s deal with New York Mets surpasses the $700m (£558m) 10-year contract that Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023.  Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today