Happy Bobby Bonilla Day, everyone!
TNP777
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in Sports Talk
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bobby-bonilla-contract-day-125428712.html
tl;dr: long story short, rather than buy out Bonilla for $5.9M in cash in 1999, the Mets "negotiated" a long-term payment plan that will pay Bonilla almost $1.2M annually for 25 years. The payment plan started in 2011, and will keep him flush until 2035. All told, the Mets will pay Bonilla almost $30M over the 25 years.
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I need something like this.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2014/01/07/the-nba-finally-puts-an-end-to-the-greatest-sports-deal-of-all-time/#4e3ee11e4f0b
But still not the best buyout deal in sports history:
The New York Times is reporting that the National Basketball Association has finally reached an agreement with Ozzie and Daniel Silna, two brothers who owned the Spirits of St. Louis, a former American Basketball Association franchise through which they had negotiated what became known as “the greatest sports deal of all time.” With help from their lawyer, Donald Schupak, the Silnas had, since 1976, received a portion of the NBA’s television rights fees which added up to an estimated $300 million. The NBA has long wanted to somehow end the Silnas sweet deal. And it looks like, with an upfront payment of a cool $500 million or so, the NBA will finally get its wish.
The reason the NBA is acting on this now? The league's media rights deals expire after the 2015-16 season, and it does not want any of that money--expected to be the NBA's biggest payday yet--going the Silnas way.
I wrote about the Silnas amazing story back in May 2011. The short version: The Silna brothers were, at the time, the owners of the St. Louis Spirits of the ABA when the NBA decided to absorb the rival league. During the merger, the NBA agreed to take on four of the ABA teams--the New York (then New Jersey and now Brooklyn) Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets.
That left three ABA teams out of the mix. When the Virginia Squires folded, the ABA and NBA had just two teams left to deal with: The Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits. The ABA offered the franchises $3 million each to fold. John Y. Brown, owner of the Colonels, took the deal. (Then the president and majority owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Brown would go on to become the governor of Kentucky.) The Silnas and Schupak turned that offer down.
Instead, they negotiated their own deal. ABA officials, wanting to tidy up the merger, agreed to the following: the Silnas would be paid for any Spirits players drafted by NBA teams, an amount that came to roughly $2.2 million. On top of that, the Silnas would also get a 1/7th share of each of the four former ABA teams’ NBA “visual media” rights (which amounted to 57% of one full share).
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Here’s the kicker: By the parameters of the deal, they would receive that share of the NBA’s television revenue in perpetuity which worked out to roughly $300 million, quite a deal for two owners of a team that hasn’t existed for nearly four decades.
As I reported in my 2011 story, some of the Silnas money was lost in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The New York Times reports that the agreement with the NBA came because of Daniel Silna’s growing reluctance to keep fighting the league. With an estimated $800 million haul from the deal, Daniel (69) and Ozzie (80) Silna will always be part of basketball lore, for striking the deal that will go down as the best ever in sports business history.
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Bobby Bonilla was a lot of things, one of them being smart to defer his paychecks. I’m surprised more athletes don’t do this or at least attempt to. It’s a smart play, a guaranteed financially secure future
Paul, in reading some of the accounts, I don't think it was Bonilla's call to make. Mets didn't want to pay Bonilla a lump sum, so they went to his agent(s) and offered deferred payments instead.
According to a guy over on Blowout, "the Mets used that money they would have paid Bonilla in 2000 by signing Mike Hampton for $5.75 million. Hampton had a great season and helped the Mets get to the World Series. Oh, and by the way. When the Rockies signed Mike Hampton after the 2000 season the Mets received a compensatory draft pick. That draft pick.... David Wright."
if that's indeed the case, then in hindsight the Mets didn't come out too bad. It's still crazy that Bonilla will be stacking paper for another 16 years.
Dodgers collection scans | Brett Butler registry | 1978 Dodgers - straight 9s, homie
Bonilla gets most of the press, but it's actually not that uncommon. The Braves are still paying Sutter 1.2 million each year through 2021 with a balloon payment of 9.1 million due at conclusion. The Reds are still paying Griffey nearly 4 million a year through 2024.
Here's a list of noteworthy players still drawing paychecks from their former teams:
https://bustedcoverage.com/2018/07/01/someone-listed-all-of-the-future-mlb-deferred-payments-in-honor-bobby-bonilla-day/
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
The Mets are a disaster
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
The Dbacks did deferred payments for 18 players to buy the 2001 World Series: https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/16/teams-defer-salaries-win-now-pay-later-diamondbacks/14153379/
I can't find the Randy Johnson details, but recall him getting paid for many years after the first 4 year stint with them.
The Mets are so bad that they included two LIVING 1969 Mets players in the celebration of their departed from that WS winning team. Amazin.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
Hey, stuff happens!
Interesting sequence of events, I never knew all that, nor was I aware that other players are in similar situations where paychecks are deferred. It looks to benefit the team as well as the athlete, a win win for both parties
Sort of like netting for their wallets.
The best part is that the reason the Mets did this is that they were investing with Bernie Madoff and expecting double digit annual returns. They fully expected to make a profit by investing the $5.9m for Bobby instead of paying it to him.
Ooops.
Best part is that they got $500m as a buyout and STILL (well, the one surviving brother anyway) get annual money from the NBA as part of the deal.