In a city brimming with Hollywood stars, celebrities and wealth, one of the most celebrated and recognizable of them all is sitting in the green room at a Los Angeles production studio Wednesday afternoon, taking a break from a commercial shoot and reflecting on his momentous decision that rocked the sports world.
It was a year ago this week that Shohei Ohtani agreed to a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the largest in sports history – and 64% more than the highest deal for a baseball player.
It was one of the most lucrative and franchise-altering contracts in baseball history, the gold standard for free agent outfielder Juan Soto and those who follow him for generations.
It instantly created a revenue stream to make the Dodgers the most profitable team in baseball, while sustaining a World Series championship-caliber team for the next decade.
The Dodgers not only won their first World Series in a full season since 1988 in Ohtani’s first year, but he also produced one of the greatest seasons in history with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases, unanimously winning the National League MVP award. The Dodgers drew 3.94 million fans, the second-most in franchise history, averaging a major-league leading 49,067 per game including 37 games of at least 50,000.
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Ohtani struck it rich.
The Dodgers struck it even richer.
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“This exceeded my expectations,’ Ohtani told USA TODAY Sports through interpreter Matt Hidaka, looking back at his first season with the Dodgers. “Obviously the first time I made the playoffs. We won the World Series. What more can you ask for?’
The Dodgers decline to say how much they added in corporate sponsorships, merchandising and ticket sales after signing Ohtani – with Japanese companies signing lucrative endorsement deals with the club – but industry estimates have hovered around $120 million.
“I wanted organizations to understand and appreciate Shohei’s real value,’ Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent, told USA TODAY Sports. “For teams to justify that amount of money to sign him, you have to really capitalize on the off-the-field opportunities, his ability to attract sponsors and brands. And there’s a whole frenzy of memorabilia and novelty items. You had to quantify that as value.
“There were teams that didn’t really see the vision we had, the attraction he would bring to an organization. If they didn’t get that part, we weren’t on the same page. …
“They either got it or didn’t. Clearly, the Dodgers got it. The Dodgers (front office) from Mark Walter to Stan Kasten to Andrew Friedman to Lon Rosen, they understood me from Day 1. They understood the value.
“Look where it got them.’
Sho-Time
The Dodgers will tell you they had enormous expectations when they signed Ohtani, but nothing quite prepared them for quite this extravaganza, with Japanese companies battling for advertising rights with the Dodgers.
“I’ve been in this business for 40 years,’ said Lon Rosen, Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer, “and he’s as popular as any athlete or celebrity I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of famous people in this country, but the impact he’s had is incredible. You can talk about Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kobe, Magic, this guy is in a place where very few have ever been.
“He’s so popular in Japan that 80 to 90% of all Japanese tourists that come here will stop at Dodger Stadium.’
Ohtani, 30, a national hero in Japan, tries to downplay his popularity. He’ll remind you that the Dodgers are filled with plenty of stars like Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
“It’s very humbling,’ Ohtani said. “Obviously, I appreciate it. I’m very thankful for what I have, just how everybody has been supportive of me. That being said, what I do doesn’t really change. I’m going to continue to focus on the sport of baseball and just try to get better each day, laying it all on the field and doing the best I can.
“But at the same time, hopefully, the popularity of baseball continues to increase and baseball becomes more popular in different countries.
“Hopefully, the growth of this sport will continue.’
There’s a reason MLB chose the Dodgers to open the 2024 season in South Korea, and again in 2025 against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo.
“I can’t imagine the reception it will get,’ said Kasten, president and CEO of the Dodgers. “It should be one of the great, great spectacles in the history of baseball. Everyone wants to see Shohei.’
The 2024 trip to Korea was largely overshadowed by the scandal and revelations that Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s interpreter, had stolen $17 nearly million from the star’s bank account to cover gambling debts. Ohtani was quickly cleared of all wrongdoing.
“It was just a real learning experience,’ Rosen said. “He didn’t do anything wrong, someone did something terrible to him. Ippei was not just his interpreter, he was his manager. But even when that happened, he handled everything behind the scenes, and it never took away his focus on the team or on the field.
“I still remember walking into the trainer’s room, right before he was going to speak about that to the rest of the world, we asked him if he was nervous. He said, ‘Why would I be nervous? I didn’t do anything.’
“He kept his focus the entire time. Really, he’s as focused as any athlete I’ve ever seen.’
The $700 million man
It was no different than his negotiations as a free agent, always cool and never sweating the outcome.
The intensity of the pursuit to sign Ohtani is comparable to this winter’s courting of Soto. The difference is that while there have been constant leaks throughout Soto’s free agency, some designed simply to help create a bidding war, Ohtani and Balelo operated under the cloak of secrecy.
Ohtani and Balelo privately met with the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays, but refused to divulge, or even confirm they traveled to meet with team officials. Balelo traveled alone and negotiated with other teams. The only time Balelo even spoke publicly during the entire negotiations was to refute an erroneous report that Ohtani was on a plane traveling to Toronto to sign a contract with the Blue Jays, and another saying the deal was already consummated.
“I didn’t want what happened to create a frenzy in the country of Canada,’ Balelo said. “These are good people, quality people, and for the journalist to do what he did was so reckless. It hurt the organization, the fans of the organization, and the country of Canada.
“Organizations we were still having discussions with reached out to me, and I said, ‘No, I’m not on a plane to Toronto. Shohei is not on a plane to Toronto. We are here.’ The only organization that didn’t reach out to me was Toronto. They knew I wasn’t on a plane.
“I felt really bad for the fans, the organization, and the country, because for a minute there, they all felt he was coming. That was the biggest disappointment in the process. Everything was so seamless, so good, and for that to happen.’
One year later, Soto is enduring the same narrative. There were several erroneous reports on Thanksgiving that he already reached a deal with the Boston Red Sox. There have been reports that he was offered $660 million by the Red Sox before a proposal was exchanged. One day he’s signing with the Mets, the next the Yankees, and Blue Jays, too. The reports have all been vehemently denied by Scott Boras.
“That’s why Shohei and I kept quiet,’ Balelo said. “I didn’t want speculation. I didn’t want the negotiations to go public. … I didn’t want anything interfering with the discussions that I was having with the various organizations.
“I didn’t want any speculation or rumors to affect the results of what we wanted to go. It’s just a healthy way to go about your business … We ultimately wanted to control the narrative and wanted to control the results.’
Ohtani and Balelo accomplished their goal when Balelo telephoned Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, on Saturday morning, Dec. 9, to inform him that Ohtani had chosen the Dodgers. Friedman, who was watching his son’s soccer game in Anaheim, where Ohtani had played the first six years of his career for the Angels, was told that the news would soon be announced by Ohtani on his Instagram. Friedman quickly called Kasten, and minutes later, Ohtani let the world know of his decision.
“Nez was completely truthful with us every step of the way,’ Kasten said. “There’s no reason for him not to have been. He could have driven the contract anyway he wanted. And I would have said that even if that plane going to Toronto was really carrying [Ohtani].
“It was all very professional. He said, ‘We want this done quietly. We don’t want it to be a circus.’ So, it was professional, respectful and quiet from both sides.’
Ohtani contract deferrals
The next uproar was the news that Ohtani was deferring $680 million of his $700 million without interest, paying him $68 million a year beginning in 2034, and it was completely Ohtani’s idea.
“I remember when I first heard that from Andrew,’ Kasten said, “I said, ‘Can you repeat that please?’ That was my honest reaction. Andrew says, ‘Can we make that work?”
The way Ohtani saw it, he didn’t need the $70 million annual salary with his off-the-field endorsements. The savings, in turn, would permit the Dodgers to build around him. The deferrals reduced the Dodgers’ luxury tax commitment from $70 million to $46 million annually.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see this type of unselfishness in an athlete to give up as much as he did,’ Balelo said. “It was a huge splash in the industry that’s never been done before to that level. It was very, very important to Shohei not to hamstring an organization. He just said, ‘What would happen if we defer all or part of that salary? I’m fine financially.’
“It was important to him to allow the Dodgers to ultimately be competitive year after year and go out and be able to sign players to bring together a championship-caliber team. That was really his ultimate goal here.
“He had a vision, and that vision all came to fruition.’
The Dodgers promptly went out and traded for starter Tyler Glashow and signed him to a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension, signed starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto one week later to a record 12-year, $325 million contract, and then signed free-agent outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to a one-year, $23.5 million deal.
“It definitely was rewarding,’ Ohtani said. “You know, Mark, Andrew, the owners, we all made a promise to each other that we would go out and create the best team to put out on the field. And we were able to win the World Series, so in that sense we were able to keep our promise towards each other.
“I know they’re renovating the field [$100 million on clubhouses] right now, putting in even more resources to sign possibly other players, so it was refreshing and rewarding to know that we all did our part to help the Dodgers win the World Series.’
It’s why Ohtani insisted on the first key man clause by a player in baseball history, enabling him to opt out of his contract if Walter ever left the ownership group or Friedman departed. It’s the only opt-out language in Ohtani’s deal.
“When you sit down with people and you form a bond and a partnership,’ Balelo said, “it’s important that you keep the band together. If the band falls apart, at least you have options. We felt like it was important to say that as long as everyone stays together, we’re all in.’’
The Dodgers not only are staying together, but they’re doing everything possible to assure they’re not a one-hit platinum record, signing free-agent starter Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract and infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman to a five-year, $74 million extension. The two even followed Ohtani’s lead by deferring $91 million, with the Dodgers now having $1.006 billion in deferrals from 2028-2046.
“Nobody is getting off free,’ Kasten said. There’s nothing mysterious about it. We were doing deferrals since the ‘70s in the NBA. The only thing unique was the amount.’
Yet, without the deferrals, who knows if the Dodgers are able to still build a championship around him.
“He wants to be the most amazing baseball player in the history of the world,’ Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly told the LA Times during the postseason. “How do you do that? You win World Series. And how do you win World Series? You help figure out how to make the club that much better.
“He made the club that much better when he came to that decision.”
Nine more years
Ohtani, the first player in history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season, could even have a bigger impact as a two-way player again in 2025. He underwent elbow surgery in September 2023, rehabbed all season, and even after dislocating his left shoulder during the World Series, says he should be ready to pitch again in April.
“So far, so good,’ Ohtani said in English. “Everything is going well.’
Ohtani, of course, didn’t sign with the Dodgers to win just one World Series. He has nine years left on his contract, and nine more fingers for rings.
He never experienced a playoff game with the Angels in his six years, but now after spending the entire month of October in the postseason, he’s addicted to playing on baseball’s biggest stage.
“The Dodgers had a lot of success and were making the playoffs almost every year,’ Ohtani said. “Obviously, I was on the Angels, and looking from the outside, it looked like it was easy for the Dodgers to make the playoffs. But when you’re part of the team, it was actually really grinding and a big struggle just to make the playoffs. The Padres were making a big push at the end, and then to fend them off, it was a tough experience.
“But it was very special, very emotional, I really enjoyed it.’
The feeling, of course, is quite mutual. The Dodgers are the best team in baseball. They have the biggest star in the sport. And they have a partnership that should make them deliriously happy for as long as Ohtani wears a Dodger uniform.
“This guy is all in on everything,’ Rosen said. “He’s sending out recruiting videos to players. He came to our gala. He came to our fanfest. He’s great with sponsors. I recommended that he have his dog, Decoy, be part of his bobblehead night. So what does Shohei do? He trains Decoy to bring out the first pitch.
“I got a front-row seat with Magic Johnson, and saw the respect his teammates and the entire league had for him, and this is just like it. He has not only made an impact on the Dodgers, but every team in baseball.
“We knew he’d be popular with us, but, oh, is he special.’
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