DALLAS – It was 2000 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas when superstar shortstop Alex Rodríguez signed a massive 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, becoming the highest-paid player in professional sports history. His agent, Scott Boras, is getting it done.

Twenty-four years later, at the start of the winter meetings at the same Dallas hotel, history repeated itself. This time it’s Juan Soto who becomes the record-breaking player, and Boras once again sent shockwaves across sports after Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets on Sunday. The deal replaces Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers and is the largest contract in professional sports history.

Soto’s signing is a monumental victory for the Mets. Not only are they securing a generational talent for potentially the next 15 years (Soto has an exit option after the fifth year), but they are also continuing to build on a future that looks very bright. After an NLCS appearance in 2024, the Mets add the 26-year-old superstar to a roster that includes another superstar in shortstop Francisco Lindor and rising young talent in Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez. This is exactly the step a team that was on the brink of the World Series should take to get to the next level.

Never before has a sports team made such a commitment to a player. Not only is the reported deal larger than Ohtani’s, it will have both the highest average annual value ($51 million) and total value ($765 million) in baseball history if the deal goes through End goes.

The details could be even more overwhelming.

The $75 million signing bonus Soto will receive is larger than Luis Severino’s entire three-year contract with the A’s – which, incidentally, was the largest contract in franchise history. There are reportedly no deferred funds in Soto’s deal, and if he opts for the fifth year, escalators could bring the total value to $800 million.

This deal has Steve Cohen’s fingerprints all over it. This would never have happened under the old Mets ownership. A big reason Soto’s mega-deal reached the $765 million threshold is the bidding war between Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner. After years of the Yankees having the team and ownership group that bullied other teams into submission, the Mets owner did just that by acquiring the former Yankees star and anchoring him in Queens.

Had Soto signed with the Dodgers, Phillies, Blue Jays or even Red Sox, his signing wouldn’t have been as big a deal as this. Soto, bringing his talents to the 7-rounder for a reported $5 million more than the Yankees’ best offer, makes this move seem like a robbery.

When Cohen purchased the Mets in 2020, this was the outcome that other team owners in baseball feared. It was only a matter of time before the world’s 97th richest man and by far the sport’s richest owner decided he wasn’t going to be turned away. And now that the Mets are stealing Soto from their crosstown rivals, the power in New York is shifting to Queens. Cohen not only convinced Soto that being a Met was a better option than being a Yankee, but he also signaled to all athletes that his sleeping, spending giant is now fully awake.

None of this should come as a surprise to the baseball world. After Cohen bought the Mets, other owners were so wary of what he might do that they introduced new tax thresholds in the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT), known as the “Cohen Tax,” to penalize ridiculous amounts of spending. This deal eliminates that tax — and the owners who were afraid to use their assets to improve their teams.

And to be clear, Soto’s $765 million deal is merely a starting point for the Mets, who still have areas they can and should improve before spring training. A team that invests in a player at this level is undoubtedly looking at a lot more, and for good reason. If you want this deal to be worth it in the long run, it’s better to win it.

Make no mistake. This is a historic day for the Mets. It’s also a sign to the rest of the sport that, like it or not, there’s a new sheriff in town.