MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani signs biggest contract in sports history with staggering $700m 10-year deal to LA Dodgers
TWO-WAY MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani has just signed the biggest deal in sports history.
Shohei, 29, inked a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers to resolve the biggest mystery of the 2023 offseason.
Ohtani’s deal is the largest guarantee money a sports star has ever received, per MLB insider Jeff Passan.
A huge portion of the Japanese star’s salary is reportedly deferred.
“In deferring the money, it reduces the cost of the competitive-balance-tax hit and will allow the Dodgers to build a better team around him,” Passan wrote on Saturday.
The three-time AL MVP’s deal eclipses that of soccer icon Lionel Messi, who is believed to have inked a four-year, $673.9 million contract with FC Barcelona in 2017.
It also trumps Patrick Mahomes’ 10-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs – worth up to $503 million – which the star NFL quarterback penned in 2020 before having it restructured this year.
After the Los Angeles Angels failed to extend Ohtani’s contract, the pitcher and designated hitter’s free agency decision reportedly came down to the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.
The New York Mets showed interest in the baseball superstar but the talks “never got serious,” per SNY reporter Andy Martino.
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