Before the Juan Soto deal shook everyone in the baseball world, it was Shohei Ohtani’s deal that had everyone talking. A whopping $700 million deal for a record-breaking 10 years. It was one of the largest deals in professional sports history. Everyone questioned if the Japanese star was really worth it. And well, what an answer Ohtani has given. He talked through his game and with his bat.
Ohtani smashed 54 home runs, stole 59 bases, and led the LA Dodgers to a World Series title, their first full-season win since 1988. It’s a huge deal! And if that was not enough, he even got the National League MVP honors. That’s not just the result the LA team got; they earned a lot, too in sponsorships, merchandising, and worldwide brand awareness.
“People always ask me that and I never say the numbers, so I’m not going to here,” Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten said. “His most important contribution is what he’s done on the field, OK? He has had an extraordinary season. But it is true that off the field, he has brought new fans. He’s changed the mix of demographics at our stadium for games. We have changed some of the merchandise, changed some of the concession offerings. We have a raft of daily tours [in Japanese] we didn’t have before. We have a raft of new sponsors with Japanese connections we didn’t have before.” Let’s not forget the jump in viewership as well.
According to MLB, Game 5 of the Dodgers-Padres NL Division Series, starring Ohtani plus a starting pitching matchup of L.A.’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto against San Diego’s Yu Darvish, one of Ohtani’s boyhood idols, was the most-watched MLB postseason game ever in Japan. An astonishing 12.9 million viewers turned on to witness that. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said: “One of our guys told me how many eyeballs were watching that Game 5, which is kind of mind-blowing. It’s good for all of us. I can’t imagine what he’s — I can’t imagine what he’s doing outside of our game, on the business side.” So what exactly is Ohtani doing?
MLB analyst A.J. Pierzynski had mentioned, “$120 million was what I was told yesterday… They paid him two million dollars this year. They made 120 million dollars.” But that’s old news; Forbes has given a figure that’s honestly jaw-dropping! Forbes listed on their website that the Dodgers were valued at $4.8 billion last year. Guess the number now? That number has shot up to $5.5 billion. It’s a $700 million jump, exactly the numbers on Ohtani’s contract!
What’s your perspective on:
Is Ohtani’s $700M deal the best investment in sports history, or just a lucky gamble?
Have an interesting take?
Ohtani’s popularity and his hold on the field made the Dodgers all that money in a year. He still has many more years to spend in LA. That figure itself is insane and exactly what Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, was trying to make everyone understand when the Ohtani signings were going on.
He wanted the teams to see the bigger picture. “You had to quantify that as value,” Balelo said. Clearly, the Los Angeles Dodgers understood the assignment, and they are now cashing in big time. From partnerships with Japanese retailer DAISO to insane 19 sellout games and Ohtani’s jerseys’—they are flying off the shelves.
Shohei Ohtani has completely changed the game for the LA Dodgers, and not just on the field. Here is another mindblowing fact. Did you know that Dodgers outfield wall ad revenue jumped from $500,000 in 2023 to a jaw-dropping $6.5 million this year? Well, all thanks to Shohei Ohtani! The $700 million investment that the Los Angeles Dodgers made in Ohtani is already paying off in spades. The Dodgers are dominating both on and off the field, and really, he helped the team be what it is now.
Shohei Ohtani’s vision brought to life
When Shohei Ohtani agreed to defer $680 million of his $700 million contract, it wasn’t just a financial decision; it was a game-changing decision. The real kicker is—it was Ohtani’s idea. Dodgers president Stan Kasten was shocked when Andrew Friedman shared Ohtani’s plan. But Ohtani had a vision: by deferring his salary without interest until 2034, he would reduce the Los Angeles Dodgers luxury tax hit from $70 million to $46 million annually.
