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It’s hard enough when your favorite team’s best player leaves town. It’s even harder to watch that star player join a rival. And nothing in fandom compares to the pain of watching that star take the team you hate to heights your favorite club never reached.
When a star jumps from one rival to another, it doesn’t just leave fans heartbroken and replica jerseys unwearable. And it doesn’t just alter the trajectories of the teams involved. Those rivalry switches can change an entire league.
In the NFL, New York Giants fans have felt the sting of Saquon Barkley’s intra-division relocation with each Philadelphia Eagles win. Less than a year after leaving one NFC East team for another, Barkley has put together one of the best seasons for a running back in NFL history, and he has Philadelphia one win away from a championship.
But Giants fans, you’re not alone. You can always call up fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Or the Boston Red Sox. Or Arsenal supporters across the Atlantic.
Rivals acquiring each other’s key players have shaped the outcome for generations of fans. Here’s how some of those acquisitions went down, and how their ripple effects shaped entire leagues.
One to two million dollars. That was the gap the Giants and Barkley couldn’t bridge after eight months of negotiations despite both sides insisting they desired to reach a long-term agreement.
Barkley rejected a three-year offer believed to be worth $37.5 million during the Giants’ bye week midway through the 2022 season. That set the stage for the protracted, failed negotiations during the 2023 offseason.
The Giants reportedly increased their offer to $13 million per year early in the 2023 offseason, but Barkley again declined because the deal only included $19.5 million guaranteed. A team source said the Giants’ strongest offer before the franchise tag deadline included $23.5 million guaranteed. At that point, Barkley set his sights on Christian McCaffrey’s market-setting contract that carried a $16 million annual salary.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen was in a sticky spot because quarterback Daniel Jones, who had just delivered a virtuoso performance in the franchise’s first playoff win in 11 years, was also a free agent. In Schoen’s ideal world, he would have extended Barkley early so he’d have the franchise tag as leverage in negotiations with Jones.
At a stalemate with Barkley, Schoen shifted his focus to Jones. The sides agreed to a four-year, $160 million extension minutes before the franchise tag deadline in March 2023. The Giants immediately slapped the tag on Barkley, locking in both players for at least one more season.
The final attempts to reach a deal with Barkley came in July 2023. When they failed to agree on a long-term contract, Barkley was required to play on the one-year franchise tag for $10.1 million.
A half-hearted holdout threat landed Barkley a revised deal with $909,000 in incentives before the start of training camp that was supposed to be a sign of goodwill. He didn’t come close to earning the incentives that were based on lofty personal production and team success.
The expectation was that the sides would engage in another round of contentious negotiations during the offseason. But then the 2023 season concluded and there was no extension offer from the Giants before free agency. The Giants planned to let Barkley test the market and consider matching his best offer if it fit within their budget.
The reality was, once they told Barkley to test the market, he was gone. Especially when the Pennsylvania native received a lucrative offer from the Eagles.
Things couldn’t have worked out better for Barkley, who became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a regular season, before advancing to the Super Bowl after enduring years of losing in New York. Meanwhile, losing Barkley contributed to a disastrous season for the Giants, who tied for the worst record in the league at 3-14.
That the Giants’ offseason saga was documented on “Hard Knocks” only added to the scrutiny. Co-owner John Mara’s angst about losing the face of the franchise was captured by his comment to Schoen, “I’m going to have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia.”
There have been a lot of sleepless nights in New York as Barkley enjoys a dream season in Philadelphia.
The New York Yankees have won a few championships with star players who came directly from Boston, like… Old enough to remember what it was like before the team left Bristol for the United States.
Rio Ferdinand, who was widely regarded as one of the best central defenders in England at the time, left Leeds United as a 23-year-old to join Manchester United in July 2002 for around £30 million ($37.2 million at today’s rate), where he went on to win his maiden league title in his first season at Old Trafford.
Another defensive transfer that proved to be transformative for the player and club was Sol Campbell, who left Tottenham Hotspur to join Arsenal. Campbell played for nine years in Spurs’ first team and had one League Cup triumph to his name.
In the five seasons he spent at Arsenal – Spurs’ fierce rivals – he won two FA Cups and two Premier Leagues, including the 2003-04 season when he was an integral part of the side that went through the whole top-flight campaign without losing a match on their way to the title.
Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari… to be determined.
The full effects of Lewis Hamilton’s shock move from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025 are still to be felt, but it certainly has the potential to change Formula One history.
The massive marketing impact of such a megastar partnership as Hamilton and Ferrari is enormous for F1. The first images of him at Ferrari’s factory quickly went viral, and Hamilton made an effort to endear himself to the tifosi, its fervent, loyal fans, who watched his first test on a cold January day. Once their rival, he is their new hero.
Whether it is a success or a failure, Hamilton’s “last dance” with Ferrari is going to be a defining moment in F1’s history – and compelling to watch unfold.
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