YesHohei Ohtani transformed the Dodgers’ economy into an advertising ecosystem that revolves around them: revenue of $127 millioncontracts with giants like Uniqlo or Daiso, collaborations that sell out in minutes or collectible pieces that sell for 3 million dollars. Everyone wants a piece of baseball’s biggest gold mine.
The Japanese star works like a sponsorship machine that has not stopped growing since his signing to the club with the biggest stars in the Major League Baseball (MLB, in English), after signing a historic contract of 700 million dollars for ten years upon his arrival in December 2023.
Although he barely receives two million dollars in direct salary per year due to his decision to defer the bulk of his salary, His fortune climbs to a record $127 million in off-the-field businessesaccording to a Forbes report published last March.
Asia’s most profitable icon
His face represents Asia’s most valuable assetcompeting only with Indian cricket idol Virat Kohli in terms of mass influence, although Ohtani dominates the global marketwith an image projected on Japan Airlines fuselages or luxury campaigns such as Kose, which boost sales of Seiko watches.
Both off and on the field, the ‘Ohtanimanía’ has led to the massive landing of Japanese brands that aspire to the international exposure of the Dodgers, as is the case of Uniqlo, which signed a five-year naming rights deal valued at more than $125 millionaccording to the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles club has broken a 64 year tradition by accepting its first corporate sponsorship linked to the name of the venue, naming the playing surface as ‘Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium’ starting this season.”It’s not that common to see a player at a level like that, who hits and pitches (throws) at the same time (…) and more so being a player from Japan for a game that is said to be American,” Roberto, a baseball fan who visited the stadium this week to watch a Dodgers game, tells EFE.
Adding to this display of sponsorships is the retail giant Daiso with an alliance so that its logo dominates every interview and press conference of the Japanese star, ensuring its visibility on the televisions of millions of homes.
The Ohtani fever reaches fever pitch in stadium storeswith consumption that also capitalizes on its name in the $75 limited edition glasses that sell out every dayAlso the collaborations with icons such as Yoshi, from the Japanese multinational Nintendo, who took advantage of the phenomenon of ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ to launch exclusive collections with the famous video game character wearing the shirt with number 17, Ohtani’s.
Collecting has also entered a luxury bubble after the recent auction of a unique autographed Ohtani card with gold MLB logo patch for $3 million. The combination of these astronomical figures triggers the Dodgers value up to $7.8 billionconsolidating itself as the second most valuable franchise in the league.
The team, current MLB champion for the second consecutive year, has achieved halve their historical gap with the New York Yankeeswhich lead the classification with 8.5 billion, according to Forbes figures.