Shohei Ohtani has reset the market for sports' biggest stars, signing a new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $700 million. Ohtani is one of the most transcendent talents in all of sports history. Normally, a comparison would be drawn to who he's like. A comparison to the skills of a star in another sport since no one has seen anything like him in baseball. But what he's doing, being one of the best pitchers and the best hitter in baseball has no real-world comparison.

It's kind of like if Lionel Messi was also playing goalie at the same time as playing forward. See? It doesn't make sense. And thanks to the crazy money that's in baseball, Ohtani gets paid in a way that represents his truly unique skillset.

He's the highest-paid athlete of all time, regarding the total value of his contract. Who held the record before him, though? What sports did they play?

Once you're in this kind of territory, teams and clubs fork over absurd amounts of their payroll budgets to keep icons, legends, and the best players ever. Who has the largest contracts in sports history after Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal?

1. Lionel Messi: $674 million

In a deal that seems almost unbelievable to fans of FC Barcelona now due to their financial woes, they gave Lionel Messi the richest deal in sports history back in 2017. Across his last four years in Spain, he averaged over a goal contribution per appearance, leading Barcelona to two more league titles while being La Liga's top scorer each year.

Lionel Messi is the greatest soccer player of all time. And Barcelona knew what they had. But, through poor management, they threw it away. And somehow, despite playing for two other clubs since leaving the Spanish giants, they actually still owe him money through 2025.

Deals like Messi's, like Ohtani's, mean that when Kylian Mbappe and later Erling Haaland are up for their new deals, the numbers will surely be astronomical. Mbappe was already offered over a billion dollars to go play in Saudi Arabia. They'll both join Messi at the top of this list soon.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo: $536.3 million

Cristiano Ronaldo, for better or for worse, changed the landscape of global soccer, taking his unbelievable two-and-a-half-year $536.3 million deal to play soccer in Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldo and Messi had legendary battles against each other in La Liga, and Ronaldo solidified himself as one of the greatest soccer players of all time during his career in Manchester, Madrid, and Turin. But when his return to Manchester United went south, instead of taking a pay cut or a smaller role in Europe, he went to Saudi Arabia and ushered in a new era of global soccer.

While we don't know how the saturation of talent and money in Saudi Arabia will change the landscape, his actions had immediate consequences. N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, Édouard Mendy, and many more of the game's stars followed Ronaldo's star power and cash to the Middle East.

3. Patrick Mahomes: $450 million

The Patrick Mahomes contract set the bar in the NFL when he signed for ten years and $450 million to stay in Kansas City for the foreseeable future. While Mahomes has been in the news for the controversial (maybe to Chiefs' fans) ending to their game against the Buffalo Bills last week, his transcendence is undeniable.

In five full years as a starter, Mahomes has two MVPs, Super Bowl titles, and Super Bowl MVPs, five Pro Bowl selections, and has led the Chiefs to the Big Game three times. Mahomes came into the league at the perfect time. Tom Brady was leaving, the money kept increasing, and the league needed a new face. And he stepped in, wildly exceeded expectations, and became the new villain and face of the league. That's what gets you $450 million of NFL money.

4. Karim Benzema: $436.3 million

The biggest name in world soccer to follow Cristiano Ronaldo into Saudi Arabia's sports washing project: Karim Benzema.

Benzema scored 353 goals for Real Madrid, second only to Ronaldo's total of 451. The 2022 Ballon d'Or winner was given a $436.3 million deal to play the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons for Al-Ittihad. Benzema is almost 36, but he was still near the top of his game for Real Madrid last year. While he wasn't healthy the entire year, in the 24 games he played, he scored 19 goals and had three assists.

While Benzema is following in the Ronaldo model of an aging star taking easy money on the way to retirement, that isn't the case for everyone. The Saudi Pro League has attracted talent from all different age ranges of players. How it plays out for Benzema and everyone else leaving Europe remains to be seen.

5. Mike Trout: $426.5 million

Mike Trout's last deal with the Los Angeles Angels was the largest contract in MLB history before Shohei Ohtani's new $700 million one. And for good reason. Mike Trout put one of the best and most consistent stretches of play in MLB history together from his first full season in the league. His pairing with Ohtani created the beautiful Tungsten Arm O'Doyle meme celebrating the success of the game's two best players while lamenting the awful team building around them.

Trout hasn't ever had a real opportunity to show what he can do in a postseason run. But when you're as good as he is for as long as he's been, you don't need a small sample size to prove his greatness. His long-term success is arguably more impressive. His worst year is a good player's breakout or career year. And his $426.5 million deal may even undervalue him. The Angles not figuring it out with the two highest-paid players in the sport's history is a tragedy because they're both really worth it.