In recent years, the transformation of contract deals in sports has changed the transition of power from the owners to the athletes of the prospective teams. From Patrick Mahomes signing a 10-year $450 million contract, to Mike Trout signing a $426.5 million over a 12-year span, the new age of star athletes is only growing. French international soccer star, Kylian Mbappé recently made official one of the most lucrative contracts an athlete has ever received. The key difference however, is the length of the contract that Mbappé signed which amounts to a fraction of many of the major ground breaking contracts created within sports. The 3-year deal includes a staggering signing bonus, compensation, and personal incentives that would give the French star a greater amount of power within the club.
Within the 3-year contract deal signed with Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappé receives: $137 million signing bonus, an estimated monthly salary of $5,000,000, and an apparent role to overlook to sporting director operations. The apparent addition of overlooking operations would include deciding the future coach, sporting director, and potential transfers for the club. In news of this, current sporting director Leonardo and current manager Mauricio Pochettino are set to exit the club.
After Real Madrid were confident in signing Mbappé and have been for the last few years, the French star was keen on resigning with his hometown club, Paris Saint-Germain. Real Madrid were offering up to $200 million last summer to sign the star who was under contract. However, since the star was turning into a free agent, this enabled him and his team to have an immense amount of power in the negotiations. The twists and turns that the negotiations took essentially brought both Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid to their knees and displayed the powers that star athletes now hold.
The Significance: Transfer of Power to Athletes
The successful negotiation by Kylian Mbappé has broken the barriers for the power and financial limits attainable for star athletes in the modern era. Soccer in recent years has been based around clubs transfer fees which gives a significant financial boost to the clubs and owners, in this scenario, by waiting out his contract, Mbappé was successful in leveraging the amount of money he could gain. This turning point in contract negotiations for athletes is bound to vastly change the way players conduct business for themselves and the power they are able to obtain. No player or athlete has openly been given such power within a club to have a say in the operations and appointments of key staff. Not only will this trend continue within soccer, but is bound to allow star athletes to attain more power over owners to better benefit their careers. The new age of star athletes continues to reach new heights and is changing the landscape of sports every few years.
With the changing times in sports and the bargaining power athletes carry, brands need to adapt to creative collaborations. The image of star athletes is becoming stronger within messages for brand endorsements. Reach out to Opensponsorship to come up with innovative marketing strategies to capitalize on this shift. Athletes looking to continue the growth of their image are able to sign up for free!
