Welcome back, marketing all-stars. It’s a new day and a new newsletter, so let’s dive into this week’s topics.

Table of Contents

• Helping Hand: Start your engynes 🏎

• Data Deep Dive: Mo money, mo problems

• Fun & Flirty: Karma is the guy on the Chiefs

Helping Hand: Start your engynes 🏎

We’re here to help you as a professional. This segment is dedicated to enhancing your professional workflow through innovative solutions and best practices.

Data Deep Dive: Mo money, mo problems

We’re here to help you as an employee. This segment is built to inspire you with the transformative power of data in marketing growth and problem-solving, based on industry success stories.

Earlier this month, the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl signed a massive contract, set to pay him an average of $14 million per year starting next season. This is the highest AAV (average annual value) in NHL history.

One of our readers, Miranda, asked if we could dive into this a little bit more. With the natural inflation of the US dollar, we are seeing a lot of ‘largest contract in x history’ headlines lately across the MLB, NBA, and NFL too. Like everything, the context of these salary figures means more than the numbers themselves, so let’s unpack some crazy details about these salaries in the best way we know how: with data visualizations.

Leon Draisaitl became the NHL’s highest paid player, but the NHL is still miles (or, tbh, dollars) behind the other three major sports leagues in North America. Let’s look at each of these other three contracts.

• Jayson Tatum signed a $314 million contract with the Boston Celtics in July of this year. The concept of an AAV looks a bit different in basketball, so he’s projected to actually have a cap hit of over $71 million in 2029-30 season.

• Sharing is caring - the #1 spot in the NFL’s contract list belonged to three QBs: Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, and Green Bay’s Jordan Love… until just last week. Both TLaw and Joey B signed 5-year deals, while Jordan Love only signed for a measly four. However, on September 9th, Dak Prescott signed a $240 million extension. This $60 million AAV clears the previous three-way-tie by $5 million!

• Some of us will remember the day Shohei Ohtani signed his last contract as the day that shattered Toronto Blue Jays fans’ hearts forever, but that’s neither here nor there. His 10-year, $700-million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers is chaotically unique, as he is only collecting $2 million annually in real salary for the next 10 years. Yep, you heard us right - he’s deferring $680 million. Rich people things.

Here’s another fun visualization. The point of this one? To remind you that football is still America’s sport. Or something.

While the NBA takes home the championship trophy for highest paid players, it’s important to acknowledge that NBA active rosters are significantly smaller than some other leagues. There are around 560 active players in the NBA… and well over 1500 in the NFL. In order for teams to pay competitive wages to their 53-man roster, they’re forking over a LOT of contracts.

The NFL may have the lowest average salary, but when you realize that’s calculated from 1696 players… wowza. We’re glad they’re not using our chequebook.

Leon Draisaitl’s legendary $112 million contract is significant for the growth of the league he plays in, but hockey fans like us are in for a reality check when we compare it to other leagues.

• 117 players in the NBA (21% of active players) make $14m or more.

• 99 players in the MLB (13% of active players) make $14m or more.

• 92 players in the NFL (5% of active players) make $14m or more.

• 1 player in the NHL (0.1% of active players) make $14m or more… starting in 2025. Right now, it’s 0.

If you’re wondering why this is the case, it’s pretty simple - the more popular the league, the more revenue it generates, and the more money it has to pay its core product: the players. However, there are so many different factors that make each of these four leagues unique. Each of these isolated graphs makes sense on their own, but if you spend too much time comparing NFL running back signing bonuses to NHL restricted free agent bridge deals… your brain is going to explode.

Fun & Flirty: Karma is the guy on the Chiefs

We’re here to help you as a person. This segment offers a lighthearted exploration of life beyond the workplace, focusing on cultural and lifestyle topics.

Chiefs/Ravens kicked off the NFL season with a bang on September 5th, followed by Eagles/Packers in Brazil and the first full slate of NFL Sunday games on the 8th. We are so back.

The return of the NFL means the return of Taylor Swift, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce’s girlfriend. Taylor always has eyes on her, so NFL games are no exception. Swifties everywhere tuned into primetime television all of last year for a glimpse of the now 30-time-VMA winner sipping on her vodka-crans at Arrowhead Stadium.

However, this was much to the chagrin of a lot of football fans. Even though Taylor was only on screen for 54 seconds of the entire Super Bowl broadcast, many fans are expressing that she feel as though she is interrupting the viewing experience.

We’re curious - what are your thoughts on this back-and-forth?

At the end of the day, honestly, who cares? They seem happy - and also, if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have the masterpiece The Alchemy from TTPD. So you know. What’s most important here?

As always, thanks for reading. If no one has told you yet today, you’re incredible and deserve the world. Go crush this week.