Juan Soto Mets Contract: Details of Record $765M Deal

Juan Soto has landed the biggest contract in pro sports history, as the New York Mets and the baseball free agent agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract that runs through 2039.

The contract details showcase the new bar that Soto and agent Scott Boras set. The deal includes no deferred money, unlike Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where 97% is deferred without interest. In addition, Soto can opt out of the pact after five years. The Mets can void the opt-out by adding $4 million a year to the deal over the final 10 years. It would push the total value to $805 million and an average annual value (AAV) of $53.66 million.

Here is a breakdown of the other numbers behind the historic agreement and the 26-year-old star:

8: MLB team owners that paid more than $765 million for their teams. In 2020, Steve Cohen bought the Mets for $2.42 billion, which remains the record sale price for an MLB franchise.

15: The years of Soto’s pact tops the previous MLB-high of 14 years for the contract Fernando Tatis Jr. signed with the San Diego Padres. Several NHL players signed 15-year deals previously, although the current cap is eight years. The longest current deal in the NFL is 10 years for Patrick Mahomes. NBA contracts are capped at five years.

17: Soto’s rank measured by AAV of current contracts in North American sports leagues. The $51 million average is tied with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, while Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys are first at $60 million, including Messi’s equity stake in his MLS club. Ohtani’s contract has a net present value (NPV) of roughly $46 million a year. Eight NFL players are ahead of Soto, per Spotrac, but the outfielder has a leg up on them as his deal is 100% guaranteed.

Outside the U.S., soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé all earn more than $60 million a year, with Ronaldo north of $200 million from his Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr. Formula 1’s Max Verstappen made roughly $70 million last year, including bonuses.

66%: Increase in value of Soto’s deal compared to the $460 million NPV of Ohtani’s deal. It’s a massive step up but still lags Alex Rodriguez’s historic $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000. That deal more than doubled the previous high in baseball set two days earlier, when pitcher Mike Hampton signed with the Colorado Rockies for $121 million. A-Rod’s deal famously doubled the previous high-water mark in all U.S. sports, which was Kevin Garnett’s $126 million NBA deal.

A-Rod’s $25.2 million average annual value was higher than the payrolls of three entire teams in 2000. It was 14 years before another MLB player besides A-Rod, Giancarlo Stanton, signed an MLB contract worth more than $252 million.

The $252 million total was higher than the value of 18 MLB franchises in 2000, per Forbes' estimates. The least valuable team currently is the Miami Marlins at $1.2 billion, according to Sportico.

$3 million: Soto's estimated off-the-field earnings in 2024, including sponsor deals with Under Armour, Wilson, Sorare, New Era and Topps. He ranked 13th among MLB players for total earnings from salaries and endorsements.

$31 million: Value of Soto’s 2024 contract with the New York Yankees after he was traded from the Padres. The two parties reached an agreement minutes before the January arbitration deadline.

$75 million: Signing bonus in Soto’s Mets contract.

$440 million: Value of the 15-year contract Soto was offered in 2022 by the Washington Nationals, which signed him in 2015 as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic.

$674 million: Value of Messi’s final four-year contract with Barcelona that ran through June 2021. It was the richest deal in sports by NPV before Soto. Messi didn’t earn every bonus in the contract but still made more than $600 million.

$760 million: Value of the Yankees’ offer to Soto, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. It was over 16 years for an AAV of $47.5 million and included no deferrals.

$1.6 billion: Cohen’s earnings in 2023 from investment fees and gains from his personal capital in his Point72 fund, according to Institutional Investor’s annual tally of the highest-paid hedge fund managers.

$2.91 billion: Current value of the Mets, per Sportico. The estimate ranks ninth in baseball and is 63% lower than the Yankees’ MLB high of $7.93 billion.

$21.3 billion: Cohen’s net worth, which certainly factors into the Soto deal. The Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers all wanted Soto and have higher revenues than the Mets to support big payrolls, but none of them can match Cohen’s checkbook.

The hedge fund titan is by far the richest owner in baseball, and his entry into the sport had other owners concerned he’d upend the salary structure by flexing his wallet. It was one reason for the new punitive $290 million luxury tax tier in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, dubbed by many as the “Cohen Tax.”

Cohen blew through his eponymous tax threshold in 2023 with an opening-day payroll of $331 million that ultimately triggered a $101 million luxury tax bill, more than double the previous high. The sky-high payroll caused the Mets to lose more $200 million, which would be catastrophic for most team owners, but a blip compared to what Cohen banked from his day job trading.