The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to pay Shohei Ohtani an astounding $700 million over the next decade, the biggest contract in North American sports history. And baseball's biggest attraction is worth it, Bob Nightengale writes in an opinion piece in USA Today. "He'll generate more money than any player who ever put on a baseball uniform," Nightengale says, pointing out that the starting pitcher-designated hitter collected $40 million in endorsements last year playing for a less marketable team, the Los Angeles Angels. Teammate Mike Trout came in a distant second at $5 million.
For his new team, Ohtani should pull in close to $50 million a year in marketing and licensing revenue, Nightengale says, after bringing the Angels $25 million a year. All Dodgers game will now be shown live in Japan. The rotating signs behind home plate at Dodger Stadium will feature Japanese advertising. There will be lucrative sponsorships and merchandise. That would be true anywhere, but Ohtani now will be playing for "the best-run organization in baseball" in the nation's second-biggest market. As a generator of revenue, Nightengale writes, "Ohtani is basically Taylor Swift in baseball spikes." The full piece can be found here. (More Shohei Ohtani stories.)
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