Is Any Athlete Really Worth $700 Million? Breaking Down Shohei Ohtani's Record-Breaking Deal
- Khrish Butani
- Oct 18, 2024
- 3 min read
By: Khrish Butani
$700 million. 10 years. The most expensive contract in American sports history—how? Shohei Ohtani, a superstar of the Los Angeles Dodgers, signed the most profitable contract ever seen in the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and more. Earning $70 million per year—over 1,200 times the average American salary and 1,000 times the average athlete's pay—Shohei is far from ordinary.
Labeled by millions as the greatest player to set foot on the diamond, Ohtani excels as both a pitcher and a hitter. His stat line speaks volumes: Ohtani accomplished the first 50 home run/50 stolen base season in MLB history this year.
Additionally, he recorded a .310 batting average, a 1.036 OPS, a .390 OBP, and ranked top 5 in every major statistical category (top 2 in most). He made history with the most valuable season by a designated hitter (per B-WAR) and is on track to win his third MVP in four years. In one game this season, he hit three home runs, tallied six hits, drove in 10 RBIs, and stole two bases—amassing more WAR in a single game than many high-salaried players earned all season, including Carlos Rodon and Stephen Strasburg, both of whom earn over $30 million annually. WAR, a stat that measures a player's overall value across hitting, pitching, and defense, highlights Ohtani’s all-around excellence. Even before his 2023 injury sidelined him from pitching until 2025, Ohtani was a top 5 pitcher. A season like this, coupled with elite pitching, would have shattered all-time records, justifying his historic contract from LA—or does it?
Aaron Judge, the likely MVP for his respective MLB conference this season, and the player who beat out Ohtani in various stat lines, has a 9-year, $360 million salary, giving him a $40 million annual salary. Ohtani surpassing a player of Judge’s caliber by $30 million only further displays the value he brings on the field, with his $70 million representing the salary of an all-time hitter combined with that of an all-time pitcher.
One might wonder how so many MLB players receive long-term contracts worth upwards of $300 million, while sports like the NFL provide their star players with much shorter-term deals and less total money to achieve similar annual pay. This discrepancy is due to the concept of the salary cap—or lack thereof in the MLB. In 2023, the NFL salary cap stood at $224.8 million. This meant each team could not spend more than this amount on combined player contracts in a single season, whereas multiple MLB teams can surpass this threshold with just one player. The MLB does not have a salary cap, often provoking controversy in American sports. Shohei’s contract more than triples the NFL’s 2023 salary cap, putting into perspective the vastly different financial structures of these two sports.
Although Ohtani’s contract is higher than any other MLB contract in terms of total funds and yearly salary, let’s compare it to the highest contracts in total funds across America’s other top sports:
· NHL: Nathan MacKinnon – 12 years totaling $100.8 million
· NFL: Dak Prescott – 4 years totaling $240 million
· NBA: Jayson Tatum – 5 years totaling $314 million
Shohei surpasses all these contracts in total funds and yearly salary, with the total funds standing out most notably.
As as October Baseball reaches a finish, it’s fascinating to see these big names under the light of the postseason. Ultimately, when awarding a player a contract of this magnitude, the overall goal is to win it all. These star players must perform at an all-time level that matches their immense contracts to prove to the world that they are worth all that money. But the question remains: is any athlete truly worth all this money?
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