Winning a World Series costs a lot of money. Fans of the Rangers will find it well worth it.
Written by Kelly Dearmore and Patrick Williams
22 April 2024
Pitcher Jacob deGrom of the Rangers is one wealthy guy who has won the Cy Young Award twice.Petersen, Christian/Getty Images
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Take heart, all you Dallas sports fans who have devoted endless hours and financial resources to driving their children to practices, games, and tournaments: if your child is fortunate and exceptionally talented, the rewards could be enormous, particularly if they end up on a World Series-winning team like, say, your Texas Rangers.
You ask, how big is it?We looked at Spotrac, an online platform that bills itself as “the largest online sports team, and player contract resource on the internet,” to compile a list of the highest-paid players from each of the four major North Texas sports organizations. Determining an athlete’s pay can be difficult due to various technicalities, wage limitations, signing and performance bonuses, and other factors.
For those who closely follow DFW sports, the Top 10 doesn’t contain any huge surprises. The most surprising thing, maybe, is how far down the list the highest paid Dallas Star is. Even with his $10 million salary for the current campaign, Miro Heiskanen is only able to rank about 20th on the list, behind the Mavericks’ Maxi Kleber and tied with journeyman pitcher David Robertson of the Rangers. We’re using each player’s base salary from Spotrac for the purposes of this list.
- Max Scherzer, Rangers, $43,333,334
- Luka Doncic, Mavericks, $43,031,941
- Jacob deGrom, Rangers, $40,000,000
- Kyrie Irving, Mavericks, $40,000,000
- Corey Seager, Rangers, $34,500,000
- Dak Prescott, Cowboys, $29,000,000
- Marcus Semien, Rangers, $26,000,000
- CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys, $17,991,000
- Tim Hardaway Jr., Mavericks, $16,193,183
- Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers, $16,000,000
- It isnoteworthy that Scherzer’s deal was signed just a few months before he was traded to the Rangers, when he signed with the New York Mets before the 2023 season. And after signing a five-year, $185 million contract in the spring of 2023, deGrom only made a few starts for the Rangers before going on the injured list in June.
It is highly likely that the top spot on this ranking will shift during the next year or so. If Luka Doncic decides to rejoin the Mavericks in 2025, some experts believe his next deal may be worth up to $367 million over five years, setting a number of records. There is a rationale to the term “super max contract.”
not sure what that says about the state of pro sports, or how the Rangers used to be run under former owner Tom Hicks, but we know that it says something.
Professional golfers aren’t on this list because we’re talking about salaries, but the Dallas region is currently home to some of the best players in the world. Recent Masters champion Scottie Scheffler earned over $27 million in 2023, the previous full season, and he has already made over $15 million in 2024.Jordan Spieth, a well-known Dallasite and past Masters champion, earned about $8 million from his playing alone in 2018. Of course, on top of their winnings, each of those pros is said to earn millions extra from endorsement deals.
It should be noted that the anticipated jackpot for a winning Saturday Powerball drawing was $98 million, to be distributed over 30 years, or $45.8 million in cash right now. However, the chances of winning are 1 in 292 million. Therefore, perhaps you shouldn’t give up on your child’s sporting ambitions just yet, particularly if he has a cannon for an arm.
