Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million New York Mets contract, signed before the 2025 season, is the largest deal in this comparison by nominal total value. The ten-place cross-sport ranking below is a December 9, 2024 snapshot, not a verified 2026 leaderboard: the available sources do not establish a current, authoritative top ten that consistently counts contracts and extensions across sports.
How this ranking is defined
The list reproduces Sporting News’ cross-sport ranking published December 9, 2024, with the values shown as reported headline totals. It includes signed player agreements, including extensions, rather than only deals reached in free agency. Its scope spans baseball, soccer, football, and boxing.
Rank is based solely on reported nominal total value: the headline amount across the stated contract term, not a discounted present value, annual salary, or an independently verified guarantee. The source does not establish a consistent breakdown of guaranteed or base pay for every deal, so those figures are not inferred. Where incentives or escalators are specifically reported, they are identified separately.
The 10 largest reported contracts in the December 2024 snapshot
| Rank | Player | Sport and team or counterparty | Reported term | Reported nominal total | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Soto | Baseball — New York Mets | 15 years | $765 million | Sporting News reported potential escalators that could raise the deal above $800 million; the ranking uses the $765 million base headline value. |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | Baseball — Los Angeles Dodgers | 10 years | $700 million | A substantial portion is deferred; see the explanation below. |
| 3 | Lionel Messi | Soccer — Barcelona | Four years | $674 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 4 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer — Al Nassr | 2.5 years | $536.3 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 5 | Patrick Mahomes | Football — Kansas City Chiefs | 10 years | $450 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 6 | Karim Benzema | Soccer — Al-Ittihad | Two years | $447.3 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 7 | Mike Trout | Baseball — Los Angeles Angels | 12 years | $426.5 million | An extension, not a free-agent contract. |
| 8 | Canelo Álvarez | Boxing — DAZN | Five years | $365 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 9 | Mookie Betts | Baseball — Los Angeles Dodgers | 12 years | $365 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
| 10 | Aaron Judge | Baseball — New York Yankees | Nine years | $360 million | As reported in the December 2024 snapshot. |
Source for the ranking and listed terms: Sporting News, December 9, 2024. The table is a dated report, not a claim that each deal’s guarantees, incentives, and payment timing have been independently reconciled on the same basis.
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Why Soto is the current nominal-value leader
MLB.com’s February 11, 2026 free-agent ranking lists Soto’s 15-year, $765 million Mets contract (2025–2039) ahead of Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million Dodgers contract (2024–2033). The Associated Press also reported Soto’s $765 million agreement as the largest MLB contract and said it contains no deferred payments. That establishes Soto’s lead by nominal value among the deals covered by those reports; it does not turn the December 2024 cross-sport snapshot into a current, fully verified all-sports ranking.
Nominal value is not the same as cash timing or accounting value
Ohtani’s $700 million includes major deferrals
The $700 million is Ohtani’s nominal contract total, not the amount paid during the ten seasons from 2024 through 2033. The Associated Press reported that $680 million is deferred and payable from 2034 through 2043. The distinction matters: the nominal figure adds the contractual amounts without discounting for when they are paid.
For its 2024 reporting, the Associated Press described different annual accounting valuations for the same agreement: about $46.08 million for MLB luxury-tax purposes using a 4.33% discount rate, about $43.7 million under the players’ association’s 5% rate, and about $28.2 million for regular MLB payroll treatment using a 10% rate. Those figures are accounting treatments, not alternative nominal contract totals.
Escalators and guarantees are separate questions
Sporting News said Soto’s deal included escalators that could lift its value above $800 million. The ranking above uses the reported $765 million headline amount, not that potential higher outcome. The available reporting does not provide a consistently comparable guaranteed-pay figure for all ten entries, so a guarantee ranking cannot be derived from this table.
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Extensions and annual-value rankings change the comparison
Whether extensions count can change a leaderboard substantially. MLB.com’s February 2026 list is specifically a free-agent ranking and excludes extensions for players who did not become free agents, including Trout’s reported $426.5 million extension. The December 2024 cross-sport list does count that extension. A list that excludes extensions therefore answers a different question from one that includes all reported player agreements.
Average annual value (AAV) is another distinct measure. It divides value across a term or applies a league-specific accounting method, so it can produce a different order from total contract value. For example, NFL.com’s 2026 contract ranking describes Baker Mayfield’s three-year, $165 million extension as $55 million per year. That annual figure is not a $55 million total contract.
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What this ranking can—and cannot—tell you
- Use the numbered list as a dated comparison: it reflects Sporting News’ December 9, 2024 report, rather than a verified October 2026 cross-sport top ten.
- Use nominal totals for the stated ranking: Soto’s $765 million is the relevant value for comparing the reported headline totals, while deferrals affect timing and discounted accounting values.
- Check the scope before comparing lists: a free-agent-only ranking omits extensions such as Trout’s, while an all-contract list may include them.
- Keep the metrics distinct: total value, guaranteed pay, incentives or escalators, payment timing, discounted accounting value, and AAV are not interchangeable.
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