List of largest sports contracts



This is a list of the largest sports contracts. These figures include signing bonuses but exclude options, buyouts, and the endorsement deals. This list does not reflect the highest annual salaries or career earnings, only the top 100 largest contracts and thus is largely limited to athletes in team sports and auto racing. Athletes in individual sports, such as golf, tennis, table tennis, boxing, kickboxing, and MMA, are not employed by a team and usually earn money primarily through event winnings. This list also does not necessarily reflect actual money collected by the athletes, since some contracts are eventually terminated (usually due to an athlete either retiring or invoking an opt-out clause). Alex Rodriguez, Steven Strasburg, Manny Machado, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Deshaun Watson, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum are on the list two times each.

Entries in this list also require an individual citation of the contract, so a number of the highest salaried athletes (according to Forbes) are not included as their contract details have not been officially confirmed, including the likes of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and Lewis Hamilton. This also skews the list towards sports with salary caps where salaries are therefore public knowledge and easy to cite.

The contract figures referenced below are presented at face value and do not reflect potential pre or post-tax treatments. For example, contracts with European sports teams are typically quoted on a post-tax basis.


 * Footnotes

R – retired  Injury – While still technically under contract, injury has ended his career  * – left team (or streaming service) before expiration of contract  ‡ – entirety of contract salary not guaranteed  (tie) – score of two or more above mentioned athletes heretofore considered equal if their contracts have been signed within a given timeframe providing negligible inflation ratio (during the same year)