Details of Messi's highest salary of all sports in the US
Lionel Messi will earn close to $140 million on a two-and-a-half year contract with Inter Miami, which means 55 million per year, making it the highest-paid athlete among the five major US sports leagues.
This surpasses Nikola Jokic's $54.4 million (NBA), Lamar Jackson's 52 million (NFL), Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander's $43.3 million (MLB baseball) and Nathan MacKinnon's (NHL)'s 12.6 million, who lead in each of the major U.S. sports leagues.
Messi's salary exceeds that of Inter Miami's current highest earner Josef Martinez, who earns a base salary of $4,000,000 for 2023.
Messi's salary doesn't have some deductions, such as state taxes (Florida is one of the few states that don't) or an agent percentage (the agent is his father).
Specifically:
-Annual salary: 55 million dollars
-Federal tax (37%): 20.35 million yen
Florida Tax (0%): 0
-Rate for agent: 0
-Jock tax (paid when working in other states, estimated 3%): 1.64 million
-FICA tax (health and social insurance, estimated at 1%): 1.29 million won
Messi's total annual income: 31.7 million
This is salary only, excluding other personal transactions that allow Messi to earn at least $50 million per year from Adidas, Lay's, Pepsi, Huawei, Konami, Ooredoo, Gatorade, Budweiser, Jacob & Co, MasterCard and Hard Rock Cafe. As for Adidas, La Pulga pocketed $25 million a year by signing a lifetime contract with the brand.
Messi also opened his own clothing store in 2019 with annual sales of $5 million. Additionally, a deal with Saudi Arabia's travel agency brings him $25 million annually. Also 20 million per year thanks to an agreement with Socios, a cryptocurrency company. Outside are the Argentine striker's properties, such as hotels in Sitges, Ibiza and Mallorca, as well as a ski resort in Andorra.
Messi ranks seventh among the highest-paid athletes in history, with at least $1.5 billion, behind LeBron (1,550), Cristiano Ronaldo (1,580), Jack Nicklaus (1,630), Arnold Palmer (1,700), Tiger Woods (2,500) and Michael Jordan (3,300, not counting the upcoming sale of a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets), according to the website Sportico.
