Bulls of the Week
At US$765 million over 15 years, Juan Soto owns the richest contract in professional sport history. It’s a work of art that accelerates from $51 million to $55 million per year, and $805 million overall if the club wants to avoid his opt-out in 2029. He will earn an otherworldly $6,000 per hour over the contract’s 15-year term. Yet as much as the exquisite hitter and newest New York Met is the biggest winner this week in the business of sport, he has plenty of company on the power wagon. The other big winners are the Mets’ brand, owner Steve Cohen, a Mets fan base that has almost always lived in the shadow of the New York Yankees, and super agent Scott Boras.
It was also yet another good week for Caitlin Clark, who was named Time magazine’s athlete of the year after more than successfully making the transition from the Iowa Hawkeyes and NCAA women’s basketball to the Indiana Fever and the WNBA. She has re-engineered the financial upside of women’s sport, making more than $10 million in her rookie year. In this era of polarized politics south of the border, she has also inadvertently become the poster child for white privilege.
Meanwhile, the NFL will have itself a big Week 15. Two of the best matchups will be played at the same time on Sunday when the 12-1 Detroit Lions meet the 10-3 Buffalo Bills, while the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles take on the 10-3 Pittsburgh Steelers. It marks the first time in 40 years that the NFL has staged two games that each featured two teams with 10 or more wins going into Week 15.
Also sharing the spotlight in the winner’s circle this week is Saudi Arabia, which was named host of the FIFA 2034 World Cup. That World Cup will be the third in four cycles that are hosted at least in part by Arabic countries, with Qatar 2022 ushering in Spain-Portugal-Morocco in 2030 and Saudi Arabia four years later (with the U.S., Mexico and Canada co-hosting in 2026). The trajectory that FIFA is charting is paired with the rise of Emirates Airlines as one of the most prominent corporate sponsors in sport, with holdings in tennis and basketball. That doesn’t include the massive amounts of money invested in LIV golf by the Saudi Sovereign Fund.
Bears of the week
If the New York Stock Exchange traded exclusively in football, it would reflect a dreary economic recession — if not outright depression — for fans of the 2-11 New York Football Giants of the NFC and the 3-10 New York Jets of the AFC. The two teams have lost 21 of the 26 games they’ve played this season, causing considerable angst among New York fans and sport commentators. It’s yet another reminder that big market size doesn’t always buy you a winning team. The Jets this week became the first NFL team to be eliminated from this year’s playoffs. What’s more? They have struggled through nine consecutive losing seasons and 14 years out of the playoffs — the longest active drought in the big four North American men’s sports leagues. Take a bite out of that Big Apple.
Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket.