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Left 4 Dead
I really need to find more time in the day. This is one of those “perfect storm” times of the year when tons of quality games come out and there’s simply not enough time to play them all. I saw a video for Left 4 Dead the other day and was convinced that [...]
Read MoreBeckham Signs with the LA Galaxy, Richest Deal in Sports History
After updating with what I read this morning, I got another message this morning that told me to read this article. Yep, Becks signs for freakin’ TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY million for five years. That’s right…a $250m contract, which is about 25 times more than whoever the highest paid guy in the MLS gets. I don’t think I’ve ever read about any MLS player getting more than two million a year on a contract.
This deal may perhaps be the richest in sports history. Of course, Tiger Woods earns like 80-something million a year but remember, this is $250m not including endorsements. Tiger is paid a good part of that 80-mil by Nike, not his PGA winnings. The next closest contract total I can think of is Alex Rodriguez signing for $252 million with the New York Yankees, but that was over a period of ten years. I don’t think anyone else in sports even comes close to an average of $50m a year. I think Alexei Yashin’s $87.5m, 10-year contract is the highest in the NHL.
According to USA Today, the highest paid players in each of hockey, basketball, baseball, and football for last season (’05-’06)…
NHL: Jaromir Jagr = $8,360,000 (2nd: Lidstron, Tkachuk and Yashin all at $7,600,000)
NBA: Shaquille O’Neal = $20,000,000 (with…Chris Webber, surprisingly, not far behind at 19m and change)
MLB: Alex Rodriquez = $21,680,727 (2nd: Derek Jeter = $20,600,000)
NFL: Michael Vick = $23,102,750 (2nd: Matt Hasselbeck = $19,005,280)
Beckham will play the remainder of his Real Madrid contract until June and then start playing with the Galaxy in August. The real question is…will this make Americans care about soccer? There’s no doubt that Beckham’s marketabilty is still huge. I mean, Real Madrid offered him a contract extension even though he doesn’t get to play and…well, his abilities have deteriorated in his “old age”. He can probably be quite competitive in the American league but Americans still can’t quite pay attention to anything other than baseball and football so it really remains to be seen how Becks’ move to the US will affect the game.
Will he go on to change the face of soccer in North America or will he end up on this list of history’s most ridiculous sports contracts?
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- 5 Comments
- In Sports and Health
C’mon, give them Yanks a little credit. They watch baseball too.
It’ll be interesting to see how MLS does with Becks in their corner. He is kind of old now, though, so I’m afraid to see how he’ll play five years from now.
ReplyMichael Jordan made $30 million in a year, and that was years ago. If you take into consideration inflation, it’s looking pretty hot.
ReplyJordan’s ‘96-’97 contract was a reported $33m…and $30m the year before that…but they were one year contracts. I know it was ten years ago but…$50m is still more than 33 inflated for 10 years.
ReplyDon’t forget Formula 1. Official numbers were never published but M. Schumacher’s last year salary was estimated to be between $46m.
Alonso is supposed to get $40m for the 2007 season.
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/03012007/13/alonso-f1-s-highest-paid-racer.html
ReplyI just realized the typo I made that completely ruined my otherwise (not-so) intelligent remark. I meant basketball, not baseball.
Reply