A few days ago, Major League Baseball (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers announced the signing of baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani on a 10-year, $700 million contract, which not only broke MLB history, but also set an annual salary record in sports history.
大谷翔平 图据IC photo
Shohei Ohtani, born in 1994, is a rare pitching and hitting player in modern professional baseball, and can play as an outfielder in addition to pitchers. In addition to his impressive speed of up to 165 km/h, he also has excellent long-distance playing ability. In 2018, Shohei Ohtani joined MLB's Los Angeles Angels, and then won the league's "New Figure". In 2021, Shohei Ohtani was named to the MLB All-Star team, and in March 2023, he won the MVP of the 5th World Cup Baseball Classic. During his time with the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani also hit 32 home runs in 2021, breaking the record set by Hideki Matsui in 2004 for an Asian player.
This time, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to sign Shohei Ohtani after defeating more than a dozen teams such as the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and Toronto Blue Jays. Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract is equivalent to an annual salary of $70 million. The previous salary record in world sports was held by football superstar Mahomes, who signed a 10-year contract extension worth $503 million with quarterback Mahomes in 2020.
What is the concept of $700 million in 10 years? NBA supergiant LeBron James's combined salary in his 21-year career is only $482 million! However, Shohei Ohtani has also experienced a period of low salary, when he first joined the MLB Los Angeles Angels, the first three years of salary were only $545,000, $650,000, $700,000, and a signing fee of $2.3 million.
Now, Shohei Ohtani has won the sky-high contract in the history of world sports, in addition to his ability in competition, its commercial value is also an important reason why the Dodgers are willing to pay "blood capital". Due to Shohei Ohtani's influence, NHK TV signed a broadcast deal with the Angels during his time with the Angels, and it is reported that during the 6 years that the Angels played, Shohei Ohtani brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the Angels in terms of broadcast fees alone. At the same time, 22 commercial brands in his hometown bought billboard space at the Angels' home stadium.
In 2023, Shohei Ohtani's jersey sales will also rank first in the MLB league. And just a few days after joining the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani proved that his commercial value is not blown out - according to the statistics of Fanatics, a well-known online sports equipment sales website in the United States, Shohei Ohtani's new Dodgers jersey has jumped to the first place in the website's "48-hour sales list" 48 hours after its launch, surpassing the record set by Messi after joining Inter Miami in July this year! At present, on the 48-hour jersey sales list according to fanatics, Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers jersey ranks first, Messi's Miami International jersey ranks second, Ronaldo's Manchester United jersey ranks third, and the fourth place is Justin Fields of the NHL Chicago Bears and Bryce Harper of the MLB Phillies team.
Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers jersey
According to statistics, Shohei Ohtani will create $340 million in business benefits in 2023. After he moves to the Dodgers, the Dodgers' broadcast contracts and sales of in-court advertising space will undoubtedly increase, and Shohei Ohtani's fans as far away as Asia will flock to Los Angeles to watch the game, which will directly drive the Dodgers' ticket revenue and local GDP.
Red Star News reporter Jiang Shan
Edited by Ou Peng
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