Hasn't played in MLB for over two decades, gets $1.2M a year until 2035

There is a better article here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.espn.co.uk&#x2F;mlb&#x2F;story&#x2F;_&#x2F;id&#x2F;37938979&#x2F;bobby-bonilla-day-2023-new-york-mets-paid-119m-every-july-1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.espn.co.uk&#x2F;mlb&#x2F;story&#x2F;_&#x2F;id&#x2F;37938979&#x2F;bobby-bonilla...</a><p>That one also mentions Bonilla is not the only one to benefit from this type of arrangement in MLB. Tbh the popularity of such deals is a clear sign of economic weakness.

There&#x27;s two brothers out there who don&#x27;t own an NBA team, never did, but nonetheless receive something like 1&#x2F;7 of a team&#x27;s share of television revenue every year. Pretty sweet deal.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;huddleup.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-greatest-business-deal-in-sports" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;huddleup.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-greatest-business-deal-i...</a><p>OK the NBA finally bought them out a while back -- total take, $800 million.

In 2015 the Oakland A&#x27;s signed Billy Butler from Kansas City to a three-year, $30 million contract.<p>His performance tanked, they couldn&#x27;t trade him to another team, and in the last year they ended up paying Billy Butler $10 million to not play for them.<p>It was a big deal because the payroll for the entire team was just $80 million...

Nice, congrats to him. Sounds like an example of someone negotiating a good contract.

Analogous to golden parachutes and rubber rooms.<p>The only way to prevent this is by evening the playing field, and that requires rules and regulations.

Very interesting, would love to find a deeper dive on this.