CNN
 — 

He hasn’t picked up a professional baseball glove in 24 years, but he’s still picking up a paycheck – and a hefty one at that.

It’s July 1, which for New York Mets fans means it’s Bobby Bonilla Day.

The former slugger retired in 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he has been collecting a check of nearly $1.2 million from the Mets every year on July 1 for more than a decade.

The deal is part of a contract negotiated by Bonilla’s agent Dennis Gilbert, which will pay Bonilla $1,193,248.20 every year until 2035. Bonilla, a former All-Star who last played with the Mets in 1999, will be 72 when his contract with the team expires.

How was Gilbert able to secure such a sweet deal for his client? They can both thank disgraced financier Bernie Madoff and former Mets owner Fred Wilpon.

The Mets wanted to part ways with Bonilla in 1999, but he had $6 million left on his contract. Wilpon believed he was getting a huge return on his investments through Madoff but the Mets owner turned out to be a victim of Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme.

Instead of paying Bonilla outright, Wilpon opted to defer payments so that the money could be unwittingly invested into Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Bonilla’s agent Gilbert negotiated with the team to defer payments until 2011, with an 8% annual interest rate.

Madoff was the mastermind of the most notorious Ponzi scheme in history. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that uses funds from more recent investors to pay profits to earlier investors, leading them to believe that their investments are part of a successful enterprise.

Madoff, who died in 2021, was serving 150 years in prison for the multibillion-dollar scheme that he ran for decades.

In total, Bonilla will walk away with a $29.8 million payday because of Wilpon’s blunder.

Players being paid over a long period of time isn’t uncommon in MLB, with contracts often deferring money down the line.

Most notably recently, after the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract in 2023, Ohtani decided to annually defer $68 million of his $70 million average salary.

That means Ohtani will be paid $2 million a year over the contract and the deferrals – totaling $680 million – will begin in 2034. Starting then, Ohtani will receive $68 million per year from the Dodgers until 2043.

The Dodgers have made deferring payments a common theme in recent times, also doing so when signing Blake Snell and Tommy Edman.

But this idea has been around for a long time now, after it was first popularized by “The Dolgoff Plan” in the 1960s when an accountant, Ralph Dolgoff, helped the American Basketball Association (ABA) compete with the NBA by allowing teams to offer payments spread over multiple years in an attempt to attract players with the appeal of long-term security.

So while Mr. Bonilla is likely one of the most famous beneficiaries of deferred payment schemes, he is not the first and will most certainly not be the last.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club, London
CNN
 — 

Wimbledon baked in its hottest-ever opening day on Monday, but the unprecedented London heat didn’t stop players from putting on a show on the grass.

Even before midday, temperatures near the grounds rose to 29.7 degrees Celsius (85.5 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Met Office, surpassing the 2001 tournament for the warmest opening day in the tournament’s 147-year history.

Highs of 33 or 34 degrees Celsius (around 93 degrees Fahrenheit) are expected on Monday and Tuesday, edging towards Wimbledon’s hottest day in history – 35.7 degrees C (96.3 degrees F) on July 1, 2015.

For those toiling away on the court, the conditions were brutal.

“Tough. Really, really tough,” Germany’s Eva Lys told reporters about playing in the heat. “I think one thing that really helped me is to know my opponent has the same situation as me. I was sweating a lot, so my racket was very slippery.

“It’s the first time playing with heat on grass. I feel like it’s really tough on the legs. This is especially what I felt in the third set. I think the spectators didn’t have it easy either. I feel like everyone is kind of struggling with the heat right now.”

When temperatures are at or above 30.1 degrees C (86.2 degrees F), Wimbledon implements its “heat rule” policy, allowing players to request a 10-minute break in play to leave the court.

It gives them a chance to hydrate and recover, but coaching or medical treatment is not allowed. The rule applies beyond the second set of three-set matches and after the third set of five-set matches, providing they are not being played under a roof.

Even with those 10-minute breaks, players can still be placed under “considerable physiological stress,” Chris Tyler, a reader in environmental physiology at the University of Roehampton, told CNN Sports.

“High heat impairs both physical endurance and cognitive function and can cause dangerous drops in blood pressure.

“Without effective cooling strategies, players are at risk of dizziness, fainting, and poor decision-making. Hydration, cooling garments and pacing will be essential to maintain performance and safety.”

Elmer Møller, Denmark’s world No. 117, said after his first-round defeat against US star Frances Tiafoe that he drinks more salts and electrolytes before going onto the court in hot conditions.

He added, however, that the heat wasn’t a “bad factor” in his match – even preferable to playing in the wind. Tiafoe felt similarly.

“I didn’t feel that hot out there,” the American 12th seed told reporters. “Like, it was hot, I was sweating, but it wasn’t that hot. That could have been me going in mentally thinking, ‘This will be hot’ – but it really didn’t feel that hot.

“I don’t know if wearing white helped as well, but I didn’t really feel that hot.”

Tiafoe said that he changed his shirt four or five times due to the amount he was sweating in the 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win against Møller, a tactic other players wished they had deployed.

“I think a bit of a rookie mistake, not doing a change of clothes at the end of the set,” Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal told reporters. “It was hot, but I had ice towels, cold drinks and stuff. I wouldn’t say it affected me too much.”

Though unusual for London and the UK, most players have experience battling with these kinds of conditions at tournaments around the world. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, for instance, temperatures have exceeded 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) on several occasions, while the US Open in New York has also reckoned with scorching heat.

Spectators, however, might feel less prepared. The Met Office advised those attending the first two days of the tournament to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and bring a hat amid “very hot” temperatures and “strong sunshine.”

Hand-held fans, wide-brimmed hats and linen shirts were put to good use, particularly with many taking on the uphill, sweat-inducing walk from the train station to the grounds. Others braved potentially hours of sunshine in the long and snaking “Queue” just to get a ticket.

Inside the venue, organizers issued messages over the loudspeaker system about the high temperatures, while water refill stations were in high demand. Many of the outside courts offer very little shade, with the heat intensifying the closer you get to the action.

The UK’s Health Security Agency issued amber alerts across most parts of the country, including in London, warning of a rise in deaths among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. An amber alert in the United Kingdom is related to weather incidents.

There are currently at least 20 countries across Europe with heat alerts in place.

Temperatures in London and around the UK are expected to cool off later in the week, with the Met Office forecasting sun and the possibility of rain on Wednesday. Perhaps then it will feel more like the typical British weather many have come to expect from Wimbledon

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
CNN
 — 

For all the hullabaloo and hype surrounding Lionel Messi’s return to Atlanta on Sunday for the FIFA Club World Cup round of 16 clash against his former club – reigning UEFA Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain – the Inter Miami maestro wasn’t the only player, past or present, with ties to the French side.

PSG boss Luis Enrique had the pleasure of coming up against no fewer than four players he once managed at Spanish giant Barcelona. Messi – bien sûr – but Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets who, in a world without the Argentine superstar still playing in it, all remain capable of hogging the limelight. And Enrique’s counterpart on the Miami sideline was Javier Mascherano, who also played a pivotal part in Enrique’s treble-winning era at Barça in the 2014-15 season.

Fast forward a couple of years to 2017, and Miami’s group of former Barça stars played their part in the remarkable remontada against PSG, as Les Parisiens somehow contrived to throw away a 4-0 first leg lead in a round of 16 Champions League tie, getting thumped 6-1 in the return match.

Round of 16 you say? Narrative was in the air everywhere you cared to look on Sunday. And in the cool climate of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a penny – or perhaps that should be cent – for the thoughts of Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, who was in the house despite recent surgery.

The iconic English soccer star ended his playing career in the red and blue of PSG, memorably shedding more than a few tears when calling it a day in May 2013, shortly after winning a fourth different league winners’ medal: in addition to England, Spain and the United States.

And this was no fleeting dalliance, but a relationship of real meaning, as evidenced by the 50-year-old cheering them on inside the Allianz Arena last month, as PSG finally won a first Champions League, demolishing Inter Milan 5-0 in the process. The soon to be knighted Beckham had a night for the ages in Munich.

“To be honest, it’s quite an emotional match for me,” Beckham told the TNT Sports/DAZN pregame show pitchside in Atlanta about his MLS team facing the final club he ever represented. “I only spent six months there, but it felt like 16 years. It’s a real family, it’s a real special club, owned by special people, run by a special man, and we’re very proud of this moment.”

Could a case be made that everyone would end up winning on this final Sunday of June, as the knockout rounds continued at the newly expanded Club World Cup?

PSG was the heavy favorite to advance, while Inter Miami had shown a dose of flair along the way from its star names to become the only MLS team from the contingent of three to advance from the group stage. A comfortable win for the European giants, while Inter Miami leave with their collective heads held high? Handshakes all around, let’s swap some jerseys, and do it all over again four years from now?

Who could argue with that narrative? Opta’s supercomputer considered PSG the likeliest competition winner before the Club World Cup kicked off in mid-June and stuck to its belief heading into the Round of 16 – giving PSG a 20.6% chance of lifting the trophy, after running 10,000 simulations – while Inter Miami languished with frankly risible odds of 0.3%.

Surely even Messi and Beckham, who know a thing or two about dragging their teams through insurmountable situations, wouldn’t have said with a straight face: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!”

But soccer has the capacity to consistently make us look “Dumb and Dumber.” And perhaps the revenge angle needed to be factored in: Messi did not seem to particularly enjoy himself – nor win much in the way of silverware – over his two seasons in the French capital, after swapping Barcelona for Paris in 2021. And in his approximately 1,100-game career, the 38-year-old had never faced a former side in a competitive fixture until Sunday.

As for PSG, so much has been said about the irony of big-name players such as Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar failing to land the holy grail that is the Champions League, while the fresh-faced Désiré Doué, João Neves and Bradley Barcola got their hands on “Ol’ Big Ears” not long after being legally allowed to drink alcohol from the iconic trophy, that it barely needs repeating.

In the end, those jersey swaps could have taken place at the half-time whistle, with the European champion putting on a clinic, racing out to a 4-0 lead, courtesy of a brace from João Neves, an own goal from Tomás Avilés (the hapless substitute had already been booked, mere seconds after entering the game in the 19th minute), and the dagger strike from attacking full-back Achraf Hakimi.

The game was theoretically in the balance at 2-0, with a couple of minutes to go in the first half, but dramatically doubled before the 65,574 in attendance could catch their breath.

The second 45 minutes felt like an exhibition. PSG took its foot off the gas, almost taunting its opponent to have a go. And at times, it felt like the entire stadium – and it did seem like a more partisan Inter Miami (or perhaps that should be pro-Messi) crowd – was willing the forward to score. And he happily accepted the assignment.

A blocked shot here, some shots saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma there – including from a header which might have caused the loudest cheer in this stadium’s history had it nestled in the net – and a free kick which rather tamely went into the PSG wall. But Messi’s eight Ballons d’Or count for nothing when a side sitting sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference takes on the best team in Europe.

“There’s a huge lesson to be learned from here,” noted Inter Miami coach Mascherano, in what might have been the biggest understatement of the tournament. PSG coach Enrique for his part declared, “It was an almost perfect match, we created a lot of chances,” perhaps the second biggest of the tournament.

Speaking to reporters, including CNN Sports, after the match, PSG star Ousmane Dembélé acknowledged that he was “very happy” to come up against Messi, and it gave him “pleasure” to see him.

It’s clear that the players still revere him, but the question must be asked: Could this have been Messi’s final ever game on the global stage? The World Cup is around the corner but, at some point soon, he’ll be hanging up his boots.

For PSG, whose players are hanging up medals rather than boots, a return to this stunning stadium awaits on Saturday, with the Champions League winner taking on German giant Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals. It’s a veritable blockbuster, but the likes of Messi and Beckham will be spectators rather than protagonists.

“It’s fine… it’s all good,” said a beaming Beckham just before kick-off, about his surgery. But as a second opinion, he could have been referring to the outcome of this match.