In the summer of 2023, the Los Angeles Dodgers shocked the world when they brought in superstar Shohei Ohtani in a 10-year contract worth $700 million. At that time, he was the biggest contract in MLB history. The Japanese star, along with a squad of great players, quickly led the LA Dodgers to success with the 2024 World Series championship. However, Ohtani’s value is much more than that.
Recent research shows that Ohtaini’s presence in LA created an economic effect of up to $594 million, with the LA Dodgers’ owners benefiting the most.
So, how do the LA Dodgers make money from Shohei Ohtani?
Attendance
The Dodgers welcomed 3.94 million home fans to their regular season games this year, far surpassing the second-place New York Yankees with 3.3 million.
Attendance is up 100,000 from last year. Although MLB rules stipulate that each team can only keep 52% of domestic revenue (the rest goes to the league’s general fund), the higher attendance has helped the Dodgers pocket a few million dollars since Ohtani’s arrival.
Dodger Stadium
Jerseys and MerchandiseShohei Ohtani has topped MLB in jersey sales (with his name) for the past two seasons. Dodgers players have made up four of the top 20 MLB players in jersey sales this year.
With jerseys sold on-site (e.g., in-stadium stores), the team retains a larger portion of the revenue than jerseys sold through the league’s platform (MLB’s website). It’s easy to see the dominance of the Dodgers and Ohtani in this metric.
Sponsors
The biggest benefit of signing Ohtani is attracting more sponsors from Japan, Ohtani’s home country and the world’s leading economy.
This season, the Dodgers have 12 Japanese sponsors, including names like All Nippon Airways, Daiso, Toyo Tires and Yakult. Ohtani fever was so great that when the Dodgers sold out their home game advertising space, Japanese brands switched to buying ads at Dodgers away games, both on the field and on television.
According to Sponsor United, the Dodgers are the US professional sports team with the highest increase in sponsorship revenue by 2024, about $30 million.
Tourism
A major travel agency in Japan said that for every Dodgers home game this season, they always have 200 customers from Japan coming to LA to watch Ohtani play. The LA tourism agency also said that 80-90% of Japanese tourists coming to LA will visit the Dodgers’ home stadium. Omni Hotel, a Japanese-owned hotel near the Dodgers’ home stadium, said that Japanese guests’ bookings increased by 30% this past summer, just through the Expedia platform.
The Dodgers’ leadership also knows how to make the most of this opportunity to increase revenue and improve their image in the eyes of tourists. Dodgers’ stadium tours now have a Japanese language option with the appearance of 6 Japanese guides.
The food menu also includes sausages made from Japan’s famous Kurobota pork. They even gave away 40,000 Shohei Ohtani figurines to fans, creating long lines outside the stadium 14 hours before kick-off.
