£227m for three US sports stars

Asked if Hicks was a fool for paying so much, Rodriguez laughed and said people should wait a few years. "Hopefully we're going to have three or four championship rings on our side and we'll be some champions that are fools," he said.

"I thought I had plenty of money coming into these negotiations. I'm going to invest it, that's for sure, take care of my loved ones. It gives me an opportunity to do some good things for good people, take care of some of my charities."

His contract ends a crazy week in which baseball teams committed nearly £500m in contracts to just 24 free agent players.

"This has to end sometime," Philadelphia Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "The well's got to run dry. It seems it does for a little bit, but then it starts back up."

Rodriguez is only the second player to record 40 home runs in the same season.

He has hit at least 40 home runs in three straight seasons, joining Hall of Famer Ernie Banks as the only shortstops to do it more than once. He was the fourth-youngest player to reach 150 home runs, already holds the American League single-season record for home runs by a shortstop and captured the batting title by the age of 21.

"He very well might break Hank Aaron's home run records," Hicks said. "I hope he does it in a Texas Rangers uniform."

Wimbledon champion Williams, meanwhile, is on the verge of signing the richest endorsement deal for a female athlete. She is poised to sign a five-year contract with Reebok. Company spokeswoman Denise Kaigler said today: "Both sides have not reached a final, final, final agreement. But we're very hopeful it will be next week.

"She is an exceptional athlete and an extraordinary individual with a multidimensional lifestyle. We believe her appeal transcends age, gender and geographic barriers. She is a role model everywhere, especially to women."

Open champion Woods is the master of endorsements. In 2001 he is in line to make more than £35m from deals with 12 companies. His five-year Nike contract, which he renewed in September, is the most lucrative in sport.

Today he swelled his coffers by renewing his contract with American Express, making him a global spokesman for the company until mid-2007.

Woods, 24, originally signed with them in 1997, the year he became the youngest Masters champion with a record-breaking performance and was voted Professional Golfers Association Tour player of the year.

Along with appearing in print and television ads, Woods - named last night as Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year - has conducted clinics for American Express after each of the three World Golf Championships this year. The last one was on a specially designed course at Hyde Park in London last month.