Dodgers’ Stan Kasten: Shohei Ohtani’s Marketing Appeal Exceeds Team’s Initial Projections
The Dodgers’ first game of 2024 is in the books. Officially, 15,952 fans attended the first regular season Major League Baseball game in South Korea between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
That’s impressive, but it’s a small measure of the Dodgers’ international appeal.
Between the end of the 2023 season and the beginning of 2024, the Dodgers committed more than $1.2 billion in future contracts. According to The Athletic, baseball’s other 29 teams combined to spend less than $2 billion this offseason. Now, the Dodgers are counting on their $700 million star — Japanese-born two-way player Shohei Ohtani — to deliver on the field and off.
Team president Stan Kasten told Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain the Ohtani Era is off to a strong start.
“We are a global brand. Right at the top near the top of all sports brands around the world. When you combine that with the brand of Shohei, which might be right now at the top of athlete brands, that’s a powerful combination. I can’t quantify it quite yet. But the little evidence we have so far is powerful. It’s going to be much bigger an impact, both for (the Dodgers) and Major League Baseball in general, than we even projected.”
— Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, via Dodgers Nation
In December, the Los Angeles Times estimated Ohtani “could easily net the club $50 million annually in additional marketing and advertising revenues.” One agent told the Times the Dodgers could gain an extra billion dollars during Ohtani’s tenure by simply investing the $680 million in deferred salary that Ohtani agreed to when he signed his 10-year, $700 million deal in December.
That sum is apart from the added gate attraction of Ohtani and any promotional activations (think: bobblehead giveaways) he brings to Dodger Stadium.
“We are the Dodgers. We understand what that brand means. I can tell you what it means to fans: it means more than all of us who are working with the team.”
— Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, via Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain
Could the Dodgers’ next step be a regular-season game in Japan in 2025? That’s been speculated in the media, however, nothing has been confirmed by MLB.
Given Ohtani’s appeal in his homeland it would be foolish for the league not to send the Dodgers to Japan at some point in the next decade. For his part, Kasten said “I don’t know about next year. We can’t go every year.”
Ohtani is more than just a brand, of course. Kasten marveled at “how dedicated and serious (Ohtani) is about his preparation, and how normal and cool and funny he is in the locker room around the guys.” That personality should endear Ohtani to Dodger fans near and far for the next 10 years and beyond — and make new Dodger fans where none exist today.
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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