It’s big-money season for Shohei Ohtani. He and the Dodgers agreed to a 10-year, $700 million deal on Saturday, per his post on Instagram and reporting from ESPN’s Jeff Passanending one of the most mysterious free agencies we’ve seen in baseball in some time.
Ohtani’s eye-popping contract, which is fully guaranteed, is now the largest in North American professional sports history. Let’s take a look at the contracts his topped across the four major men’s leagues.
NFL: Patrick Mahomes, 10 years, $450 million (AAV $45 million)
Mahomes’ deal with the Kansas City Chiefs was the largest in all of North American pro sports when it was signed. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, European soccer players, are the only athletes who had beaten it — until now. Ohtani’s deal dwarfs Mahomes’ in more ways that one. Not only is Ohtani’s total value greater, but also his entire contract is guaranteed, which is true of every MLB contract. (The same is not true in the NFL.) Although Mahomes and the Chiefs restructured his deal in March 2023, and it will now pay him $210.6 million from 2023 through 2026 (the most in NFL history), he still doesn’t beat Ohtani.
MLB: Mike Trout, 12 years, $426.5 million (AAV $35.5 million)
With his new contract, Ohtani beat his former teammate Mike Trout’s massive contract extension signed in 2019. While Ohtani played the field during his long-awaited free agency, Trout has never been a free agent. He was picked 25th overall by the Angels in 2009, signed a six-year, $144.5 million contract in 2014 and signed that enormous extension in 2019. Despite Trout’s talent and consistency at his peak, he can’t pitch like Ohtani can (or perhaps at all), so Ohtani was destined to break Trout’s record, just as he has already broken so many MLB records.
NBA: Jaylen Brown, 5 years, $303.7 million (AAV $60.7 million)
The NBA’s max deals are shorter than MLB’s major contracts (which typically start at seven years and go up from there), but the average annual value is usually larger. Brown signed his deal with the Boston Celtics in July 2023, and it currently stands as basketball’s largest contract in total value. It was also the first NBA contract to surpass $60 million in annual value. Ohtani won’t make that much per year, but the total value of his contract completely dwarfs Brown’s deal.
NHL: Alex Ovechkin, 13 years, $124 million (AAV $9.5 million)
Ovechkin’s contract is the only one on this list that has been completed. The 38-year-old still plays for the Washington Capitals, but this deal, which remains the largest in NHL history, ended in 2020. The NHL is the smallest of the four major sports leagues, and its contracts reflect that. However, Ovechkin is a special, legendary, one-team player, which is why his contract remains the sport’s largest by a considerable margin. In fact, Ovechkin has the opportunity this season to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record of 894, and he’s already just the third player in NHL history to reach 800 career goals.
