Think back to the last time you got a pay rise for your hard work….felt good, didn’t it? A bit of recognition never goes amiss, and the money is always a great help too.
Consider the emotions you felt when you were told you had a jump in pay coming, and then imagine how Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes felt when he was told about his pay rise.
The 24-year-old signed a ten-year contract extension that will, in theory, keep him at the Chiefs for the rest of his career, with terms agreed on a staggering deal that will see Mahomes net more than $500 million – roughly £400 million.
The contract dwarfs anything that American football has ever seen before, and even that other US sporting megastar – LeBron James – has been left counting his dimes to see if he can get anywhere close to Mahomes’ wealth.
And the truth is that no he cannot – indeed, the only sporting stars that can demand that sort of income are Floyd Mayweather, who has reportedly permanently retired from boxing, and Tiger Woods, has amassed a net worth in excess of $800 million.
But when you factor in sponsorships and commercial deals, Mahomes is by far and away the best paid sporting star aside from the Big Cat, and that is just reward for a stellar couple of seasons.
He guided the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in more than 50 years back in February, picking up the game’s MVP award into the bargain. And that came after a vintage 2018 in which Mahomes – playing in his first full season – was crowned the NFL’s MVP.
He averages more passing yards per game than any other player in the annals of American football, and that helps to explain why Patrick Mahomes has been awarded the first half-billion contract in sporting history. Who will be next to join that list?
How Can the Chiefs Afford to Pay Mahomes’ Salary?
NFL teams are notoriously shy when it comes to releasing financial reports or accounts in the public domain.
However, when you look at the figures, you can see why the Kansas City Chiefs were so willing to offer Mahomes such a bumper deal.
Remember, spread across a ten-year period, the quarterback is *only* earning $50 million per year. And that pales in comparison to how much the Chief rake in each season, which includes roughly $1.2 billion from marketing and commercial deals and the $250 million share from the NFL’s various broadcasting arrangements.
So that’s nearly $1.5 billion a year before a single ticket, replica jersey or pint of beer has been sold on match day.
It’s incredible to see how far the sport has come since the 1980s, at which point the Kansas City Chiefs were a ‘break even business’ according to the then chairman, Jack Steadman.
“It’s an expensive operation,” he said.
“There’s just not that much money to be made.”
If only Steadman had survived to see the salad days of NFL 2020 and beyond….