Monday will go down as one of the most pivotal days in Bay Area sports history.
Why? Because it is the day sports fans were reminded that 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy essentially makes close to nothing financially, of course, compared to other -- even retired -- professional athletes.
Nothing else went down in the Bay on Monday, right?
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Regardless, ESPN’s Adam Schefter acknowledged the infamous "Bobby Bonilla Day" on Monday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, and illuminated the 61-year-old’s ridiculous annual payments by comparing them to Purdy’s cheap San Francisco contract.
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day: Bonilla is set to collect $1.193 million from the NY Mets today, as he will each July 1st through the year 2035, which is $208,000 more than the $985,000 base salary that 49ers QB Brock Purdy will make this season. pic.twitter.com/U7pBRLKvVq
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 1, 2024
For those unfamiliar, "Bobby Bonilla Day" came to be because the New York Mets deferred the third baseman’s bought-out contract in 2000 to be paid in later years, with interest.
“Instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million [in 2000], the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8-percent interest,” explained ESPN’s Dan Mullen in an article published Monday.
San Francisco 49ers
“At the time, Mets ownership was invested in a Bernie Madoff account that promised double-digit returns, and the Mets were poised to make a significant profit if the Madoff account delivered -- but that did not work out.”
Bonilla, who hasn’t played for the Mets since 1999 and in MLB since 2001, got paid $1.2 million on Monday.
Meanwhile, Purdy makes less than that annually, even though he was just in Super Bowl LVIII and was an NFL MVP finalist in 2023 -- seems fair enough.
Purdy is in the final year of his four-year, $3.7 million rookie contract with the 49ers. As Schefter noted, the Iowa State product has a $985,000 base salary for the 2024 NFL season.
Ironically, Bonilla is receiving $208,000 more this year.
Considering athletes are making more money than ever with contracts nearing 10 figures, it’s pretty hilarious that Purdy -- albeit 24 -- makes less than Bonilla.