$1.2 BILLION! Baseball star signs biggest deal in sports history… and flips sides in heated rivalry

Dominican baseball superstar Juan Soto has agreed to join the New York Mets on a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million deal USD ($1.197 billion), multiple US media reports said on Sunday.

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ESPN and Major League Baseball’s official website both reported Soto’s blockbuster move, which if confirmed would be the richest contract in the history of professional sport.

It surpasses Lionel Messi’s estimated $US674m deal at Barcelona, though that was over just a four-year period, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s $US536m deal in Saudi Arabia, lasting just two and a half years.

Soto had entered free agency after playing last season for the New York Yankees, who had hoped to re-sign the gifted 26-year-old outfielder. Instead he joins their hated rivals.

The breakdown of Soto’s $AU1.197 billion contract is staggering, netting him $79.8m a year, $6.65m a month and $218.76k every single day.

The deal could technically be even larger than the headline figure, with reports after five years Soto can either opt out or get a $US4 million raise in his salary – which would take the deal to a total of $US805 million ($AU1.26 billion).

The deal eclipses the $US700 million contract over 10 years (which included significant deferrals) that Shohei Ohtani received from the Dodgers last winter. MLB valued that deal at $460 million in present-day value because of the deferrals.

Soto, 26, will give the Mets a franchise cornerstone to join Francisco Lindor in the lineup, giving the team a 1-2 combo that rivals – if not surpasses – any in baseball.

Soto was part of a similar dynamic last season with the Yankees, for whom he teamed with Aaron Judge to help lead the team to the World Series for the first time since 2009.The Yankees pushed hard to re-sign Soto, with managing partner Hal Steinbrenner raising his offer to 16 years and $760 million – more than double what the team gave Judge in free agency (nine years, $360 million) before the 2023 season.

Ultimately it was Steve Cohen’s offer that won out, allowing the Mets owner to make a tsunami of a splash for a fan base that has long been frustrated by life in the Yankees’ shadow.

Cohen gave Lindor a 10-year contract worth $341 million before he reached free agency after acquiring the All-Star shortstop from Cleveland four years ago. That deal stood as the largest in Mets’ history until Soto’s agreement.

Soto hit a career-high 41 homers last season with the Yankees and overall hit .288/.419/.569. Soto arrived into the organization last year at the Winter Meetings when he was traded from the Padres (with Trent Grisham) for Michael King, Kyle Higashioka, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe and Randy Vasquez.

– Sections of this article originally appeared on The New York Post and were republished with permission