Last summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers shocked everyone when they signed Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract. It was by far the largest contract in MLB history and roughly $200 million more than MLB experts had predicted he would get.

This sent everyone into a frenzy, especially when it came out that the Dodgers were deferring $68 million of Ohtani’s $70 million salary. That meant the Japanese two-way star would go from one of MLB’s highest-paid players to one of its lowest, earning less than retired players like Chris Davis ($9.2 million) and Ken Griffey Jr. ($3.6 million).

This was just creative accounting, though. MLB treated Shohei Ohtani’s contract like a 10-year, $460 million deal because that was what it was worth from a net present value perspective. And while everyone was fawning over the Dodgers 2024 lineup, what they should have been focused on was Ohtani’s potential financial impact.

Just one year into his 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a recent study estimates that Ohtani’s LA arrival has created an economic impact of $594 million.

So here are some of the ways that the Dodgers are monetizing the world’s most unique baseball player:

Record-Breaking Attendance: The Dodgers had 3.94 million fans attend home games this regular season. That’s about 100,000 more fans than last year, with the Dodgers having 631,413 more fans at their games than MLB’s second highest-drawing team, the New York Yankees at 3.3 million. The Dodgers don’t get to keep all of this money (because MLB’s revenue-sharing program requires them to contribute 48 percent of local revenues to a shared fund), but they still get to keep 52 percent of the total. And once you add in parking and concessions, that increase was worth millions in year one.

Merchandise Sales: Shohei Ohtani led all MLB players in jersey sales for the second straight year. Dodgers players also accounted for 20% of MLB’s top 20 jersey sales, the highest proportion of any MLB team. Revenue-sharing covenants require the money from jersey sales to be shared amongst several parties, including MLB’s other 29 teams and the league’s players association. However, the Dodgers keep a larger share of the money when jerseys are sold through their own retailer (i.e., a stadium shop). So, with increased attendance coinciding with more jersey sales than any other team, it’s safe to say the Dodgers ranked first in merchandise sales this year.

Japanese Sponsorships: Similar to how the walls of Yankee Stadium were lined with Japanese brands when Hideki Matsui was roaming the outfield in New York, the biggest benefit from Ohtani’s signing came in a similar fashion. For example, the Dodgers had 12 new Japanese sponsors this season, including All Nippon Airways, Daiso, Toyo Tires, and Yakult. In fact, the Dodgers sold out of ad inventory so fast that Japanese companies started 1) buying ad space in other MLB stadiums where the Dodgers played away games and 2) purchasing TV-visible ads during Dodgers away games. This helped the Dodgers create more new revenue than any other U.S. professional sports team this year, estimated at $30 million or more, according to Sponsor United founder and CEO Bob Lynch.

Tourism Skyrockets: Shohei Ohtani’s home games only moved an hour north from Anaheim to Los Angeles, but the larger brand behind the Dodgers made his game must-see TV, especially for Japanese visitors. A major Japanese travel agency told CNN that it was booking up to 200 clients from Japan for each Dodgers home game this season, and the LA Tourism Board estimates that 80% to 90% of visitors from Japan stopped by Dodger Stadium at least once during their Los Angeles trips. This increase in tourism had popular LA businesses like the Miyako Hotel and Mr. Ramen saying their foot traffic doubled year over year, and the Omni hotel near Dodger Stadium saw its bookings from Japanese tourists go up +30% this summer just from Expedia alone.

In-Stadium Sales: Besides the aforementioned increase in ticket and merchandise sales, the Dodgers found other ways to monetize Ohtani-mania. For example, the Dodgers now host stadium tours in the Japanese language, which necessitated the hiring of six new Japanese-language tour guides. The Dodgers also added Japanese items to its concession menu, including Kurobuta pork sausage dogs, and the team even gave away 40,000 Shohei Ohtani bobbleheads featuring his dog Decoy, causing fans to line up 14 hours before the game’s first pitch so they could get one.

Safe to say, it’s been a fantastic year for the Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani became the first 50/50 player in MLB history, recording 50+ home runs and 50+ steals in a single season. The Dodgers are also the top seed in the National League and have the second-best odds of winning this year’s World Series.

But the Dodgers aren’t the only team that benefited from Shohei Ohtani. Major League Baseball, for instance, just posted its best wild card viewership weekend ever on ESPN, and they will now parlay Ohtani’s popularity into a 2025 opening weekend series between the Dodgers and Cubs in Japan.

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