Latest news with #FredWilpon
Edmonton Journal
02-07-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Ex-MLB star rakes in $1.19M annually despite not playing for 24 years
Article content He's not Canadian and he's not an NHL free agent, but it's safe to say that nobody looks forward to July 1 as much as this guy. Article content While the first day of July marks Canada Day and signals the start of free agency for NHLers hoping to score big paydays, it is also recognized by some as 'Bobby Bonilla Day.' Article content Named for the 62-year-old former MLB star, it's safe to say there's at least one person who has the big day circled on his calendar. Article content Article content Bonilla signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1980s and made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1986. Article content He starred for teams including the Pirates, New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, winning the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins. Bonilla was also a six-time All-Star and won the Silver Slugger Award three times in his career. Article content However, by 1999, he was on the decline in the middle of his second stint with the Mets, who ultimately decided to release him. Article content The stickler was that the Mets owed him $5.9 million to pay out the remainder of his contract. Article content Article content That's when Bonilla's agent went to the Mets with an offer: They would agree to have the payment deferred for a decade with interest. Bonilla would get paid over $1.19 million per year, every July 1 from 2011 to 2035. Article content While it meant the payout would balloon from $5.9 million to $29.8 million, the Mets agreed to the deal, in part because Mets owner Fred Wilpon was heavily invested with Bernie Madoff in his infamous Ponzi scheme at the time. Article content Wilpon believed that the 10% returns he was making on his investments with Madoff would outweigh the eight per cent interest he'd be required to pay to Bonilla on the $5.9 million, so he accepted the deal.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Ex-MLB star gets another $1.19m payout from the New York Mets... despite not playing for 24 years
The sun rises on another July 1st, marking yet another 'holiday' for New York Mets fans. Happy Bobby Bonilla Day. Another payment in arguably the most infamous deferred payment setup in sports history gets distributed today as a player who hasn't laced up his cleats since 2001 collects a check for $1,193,248.20. It's also officially the 10-years-remaining mark on this megadeal - with Bonilla set to continue to collect payments through 2035. Bonilla signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1980s and by 1986, he made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox. Over the course of his career, he'd star for teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Mets, and the Baltimore Orioles. He also won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins. He was also a six-time All-Star and had won the Silver Slugger Award three times in his career. But by 1999, he was on the decline in the middle of his second stint with the Mets and the team decided to release him. The only issue was they owed him $5.9million to pay out the rest of his contract. But Bonilla's agent went to the Mets with an offer: they would agree to have the payment deferred for a decade and with interest, Bonilla would get paid over $1.19m per year every July 1 from 2011 to 2035. While that meant his payout would balloon from $5.9m to $29.8m, the Mets agreed to the deal. That's partially because Mets owner Fred Wilpon was heavily invested with Bernie Madoff in his infamous Ponzi scheme at the time. Wilpon believed that the 10 percent returns he was making on his investments with Madoff would outweigh the eight percent interest he'd have to pay to Bonilla on the $5.9m, so he accepted the deal. So each year, fans of baseball celebrate the payout as some sort of informal national holiday - with social media always going nuts over the deal. But it's important to note that Bonilla isn't the only player getting deferred money. Most notably, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is only getting paid $2million per year over the length of his 10-year contract before getting paid $68million per year from 2034 to 2043. Andrew Brandt, a former NFL executive and a professor at Villanova University, tweeted in 2024, 'Always amused at the reaction to Bobby Bonilla's deferred payments. I don't know about his interest rates, but know this: Every team, in every sport, would rather defer than pay in present. Money now better than money later. I fought with agents all the time in trying to defer. The funny thing is, this isn't even the only deferred contract Bonilla is on the receiving end of. He also gets paid another $500,000 from the Baltimore Orioles - having collected payment from them each year since 2004 and running until 2029.
