The American coach received the highest rating

The Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) has signed a new contract with head coach Erik Spoelstra. It is notable for the fact that it became the largest in the history of American professional sports leagues, if we evaluate the total amount of payments to the specialist during the duration of the agreement. Over eight years, Spoelstra will earn $120 million.

TV channel ESPN Citing his sources, he reported that the head coach of the NBA Miami Heat club, Erik Spoelstra, signed a new contract with the team. In itself, this news is not particularly noteworthy. Spoelstra, who joined the Miami Heat back in 1995 (he started out in a low-prestige position as a video coordinator analyzing the team’s matches, then worked as a scout, assistant head coach and, finally, in 2008, succeeded the famous Pat Riley as coach), is considered one of the best coaches in the league: he has two championship titles to his credit, albeit won at the beginning of the last decade, as well as four trips to the play-off finals, including a fresh one in 2023.

With such a track record, it is not difficult to expect that the team will be interested in you. Another thing is that Miami bosses seemed extremely interested in retaining the 53-year-old Spoelstra (his contract expired at the end of the season). He was offered not only a long, eight-year contract, but also a record amount for all American professional sports leagues.

ESPN sources say Spoelstra will receive more than $120 million in total.

However, if we evaluate Spoelstra’s new contract based not on the total amount of payments due to him, but on the average annual salary, it turns out that there are more expensive specialists in the American leagues. In the NBA, this is San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich – he has a five-year contract that brings him $19 million annually.

Well, the leader in American sports in terms of coaching salary is the coach of the New England Patriots National Football League (NFL, American football) Bill Belichick. The club, however, did not name the duration of the agreement, noting only that it is designed for several years. But it is known that the contract brings the 71-year-old specialist $25 million a year.

Interestingly, American top coaches lag behind their European soccer league counterparts when it comes to coaching earnings.

Among athletes, we note, the situation is different. Yes, there are titans, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, whose salaries, according to Forbes, in 2023 ranged from $43 million for Cristiano Ronaldo to $100 million for Mbappe (here it must be noted that their total income is significantly higher due to revenue from advertising contracts and other things), but they stand apart. And in the same NFL and NBA there are fifty players each whose salaries exceed $30 million a year.

But at the same time, the highest paid coach in the world is not one of the “Americans”, but the coach of Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone – €39 million ($42.6 million) per year. Pep Guardiola’s salary at Manchester City exceeds €22 million ($24 million) per year, while Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool is paid €18 million ($19.6 million) per season.

Alexander Petrov