Sport's Rich List: How the highest paid players earned their mega deals

It's no secret that athletes across several sports are paid millions of dollars because of their ability on the field, track, or court.

MLB megastar Shohei Ohtani has finally agreed to a historic contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, signing the richest contract in the history of professional sport.

Picture – X @Dodgers

Ohtani has signed a contract of $700 million over ten years, showing the money and power within the MLB and sports in general.

For an athlete to be paid in the hundreds of millions of dollars, they have to provide a skill set and success that very few in the world can do.

Here are the richest contracts in sports and what the athlete has done performance-wise to warrant this kind of money!

Ten years and $700 million is a lot of money for any person or athlete, but Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani is a baseball unicorn, being an all-star pitcher and batter in the MLB.

His dominance on both sides of the ball has drawn comparisons to sports icon Babe Ruth. Ohtani is a two-time American League MVP and led all major statistical batting leaderboards in 2023. In 2022, he led the MLB in Strikeouts per nine innings pitched, showing his unique skillset.

Upon signing his four-year, $644 million contract in 2017 with Barcelona, Lionel Messi had already established himself as the GOAT of football and the greatest Barcelona player of all time.

Before signing his gigantic contract, Messi had won the Ballon d'Or six times, the greatest individual honor in football. Messi's goal total of 672 is the most goals scored by anyone for one club. He also lifted 34 trophies for the Spanish giants.

In 2020, NFL leading quarterback Patrick Mahomes cemented his future with the Kansas City Chiefs, staying at Arrowhead for ten years, earning $450 million.

Before signing his contract in 2020, Mahomes earned his big money deal with exceptional offensive play, winning a Super Bowl (2019), Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP (2018), and NFL Offensive Player of the Year. He has since won another Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, and NFL MVP.

Last year, the Saudi Pro League had an objective to lure in football's most prized assets, and Al-Ittihad did that, bringing in Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema on the biggest annual salary in professional sports history.

At 35, the French star hasn't got long left in his football career, but is he worth the money? Before joining Al Ittihad, Benzema had come off a season of winning the Ballon d'Or, UEFA Men's Player of the Year in 2022. With Lyon and Madrid, Benzema won 31 trophies.

In 2019, Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout signed a 12-year, $426.5 million deal to stay in the City of Angels after becoming the MLB's premiere hitter.

Up to 2019, Trout got his major contract after earning eight All-Star appearances, three American League MVPs, six Silver Slugger Awards, and two AL Hank Aaron Awards.

As sports continue to produce more revenue, fans, and bigger sponsorship deals, athletes are going to continue being paid more extravagant amounts of money. Will an athlete be paid in the billions in the future?