It’s July 1—and if you’re a baseball fan, you probably know today is the day former New York Mets third baseman Bobby Bonilla gets his annual $1.19 million paycheck. To celebrate, Mint Mobile is partnering with Bonilla to offer its own “extremely long-term deal” to new subscribers.
The story of Bobby Bonilla Day
If you’re not a baseball fan, or if you’re too young to remember anything prior to Y2K, here’s a quick refresher on Bobby Bonilla Day, which has become somewhat of a holiday for the most diehard fans: the third baseman was released from his contract with the Mets in 2000 after an underwhelming season late in his career. At that point, the team owed him $5.6 million. Instead of paying it out right away, the Mets struck a deal with Bonilla to pay him nothing for 11 years, and then pay $1.19 million every year from 2011 to 2035.
If this sounds insane, that’s because it kind of was—Mets owner Fred Wilpon was investing with Bernie Madoff and thought he could make enough money by investing that $5.6 million to more than pay for Bonilla’s paychecks down the line. That, um, didn’t really pan out.
Really, really long-term deals
In honor of this entire debacle, Mint Mobile is offering customers a similarly insane deal. Available today only, new subscribers can get wireless service from Mint for just $100 per year for the next 25 years—and there’s no cap on how many people can take advantage of the deal, according to the brand.
Bonilla stars in two new spots by Maximum Effort, the creative agency led by actor Ryan Reynolds, who also holds an ownership stake in Mint Mobile. In the first ad, the former baseball player urges a couple of fans at the gym to get “extremely long-term deals” like he did—the secret to his youthfulness.
In the second spot, Bonilla laments the hate mail that he receives each year on July 1 as “often misspelled, but still hurtful.” To appease the haters, he explains, he’s partnering with Mint to extend a long-term deal on wireless to anyone who wants it.
While the finances of Mint Mobile’s new promo make about as much sense as paying Bobby Bonilla $29.8 million instead of $5.6 million, what does make sense is the way this campaign hits on a niche, clever absurdity in a way that’s likely to gain traction online. Since Reynolds bought Mint Mobile in 2019, the brand’s marketing efforts have taken on the dry-humored, zeitgeist-y nature of all his work—endearing fans and subscribers alike to the brand and Reynolds himself.
When asked what will happen if tech advancements make mobile services obsolete sometime in the next 25 years, a Mint spokesperson explained that “We will offer a refund of a total memory wipe compliments of Mint’s new corporate overlord, the Rekall Corporation.” Sure.
The ads will air on ESPN2 and Fox Sports 1 throughout the day today, and during the Mets’ game versus Atlanta tonight.
