Neymar’s release clause will cost Paris St-Germain and incredible €222M. It will be the biggest transfer fee in soccer history, more than the two previous-biggest deals of all time combined and will shake up the game. Spending that kind of money on one player seems ridiculous, because it is, but it’s even more amazing when you think about what that does in other sports.
6 extravagant things worth as much as the €222M PSG is paying for Neymar
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
To make this a little easier we’ll convert the fee into U.S. dollars. It comes out to just shy of $264M. What can $264M buy? A whole lot.
It’s more than the GDP of six countries.
The island nations of Tuvalu, Montserrat, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, and Palau all make less than the Neymar fee. Of these nations Kiribati is the largest, with a population of 110,000.
The Golden State Warriors could pay its core for three years.
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Over the next three years the Warriors will pay Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green a combined $258.9 million until the end of the 2019-20 season.
Granted, Durant and Thompson are due to become free agents after the 2018-19 season, but PSG could basically pay the best team in basketball for two full seasons, and still have Steph and Dray in 2019-20.
PSG could have made The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy
Both Marvel films were made for between $220-230 million. The Avengers made over $1.5 billion at the box office, so we’ll see if Neymar is as good a return on investment.
The naming rights to the Jaguars’ stadium until 2072
Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images
In 2014 the Jaguars reached a 10-year agreement with EverBank to name their field until 2024. The cost was $43 million. Accounting for inflation, the Jaguars could have played on Paris St-Germain Field for the next 55 years.
They could have bought the GIGAYACHT and had change left over
Still the most-expensive purchase in eBay history, the world’s largest yacht was sold for $168 million in 2006. It has 10 multi-level VIP suites, a heliport and a movie theater.
Neymar is awesome, but he doesn’t have a heliport attached to his head.
The most-expensive house in America
This 38,000 square foot, 12 bedroom house has 21 bathrooms so you could almost go a month and only use one per day. The Bel Air home comes in at the bargain price of $250 million, which would leave a little leftover to furnish the house with every piece of PSG memorabilia available.
That’s a steal.
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