Thanks to Mint Mobile, everyone can reap the benefits of Bobby Bonilla Day.
In celebration of Bobby Bonilla’s infamous deal with the Mets, which pays him nearly $1.2 million every July 1 through 2035, Mint Mobile is offering new customers “the Bobby Bonilla deal of wireless,” as Bonilla says in a new commercial. The deal is 25 years of service for $100 per year.
To promote the deal, Bonilla starred in a series of ads for Maximum Effort, the creative agency of actor Ryan Reynolds, who is also a co-founder of Mint Mobile.
In one ad, Bonilla, identified as a “baseball genius,” credits “extremely long-term deals” for his pristine physical condition. When someone says to him that Mint Mobile’s deal “seems really fiscally irresponsible,” Bonilla replies with a smile, “It does.”
In the other, Bonilla reasons that he’s teaming up with Mint Mobile to appease the haters, who allegedly send him hate mail — “often misspelled, but still hurtful” — every July 1.
“But this year is going to be different,” Bonilla says.
The Mets released Bonilla following the 1999 season, but still owed him the $5.9 million remaining on his contract. Rather than paying it right away, the two sides reached an agreement that would pay Bonilla yearly $1.19 million installments from 2011-2035.
“Today seemed like a good day for us to act like a big wireless company and lock someone into a really long contract,” Mint Mobile CMO Aron North said. “It’s not something we’d normally do, but in honor of the greatest long-term contract ever we had to. It sounded fun and we like having fun.”
According to the company, there’s no limit on how many new subscribers take advantage of the deal.
Earlier on Thursday, the Mets announced their own clever Bonilla-related promotion. Fans will have the opportunity to book a one-night stay in a Citi Field suite, thanks to the franchise’s partnership with Airbnb.