Shohei Ohtani Increased Sales 10x In One Area of Dodger Stadium

Quantifying Shohei Ohtani's impact on the Los Angeles Dodgers' on-field product is relatively easy.

Since he signed a 10-year, $700 million free agent contract in December 2023, the Dodgers have won two World Series in two years. Ohtani was named the National League's Most Valuable Player after both seasons.

In 2026, Ohtani is up to his old tricks again. He has compiled an MLB-leading 6 Wins Above Replacement according to Baseball Reference.

Calculating Ohtani's off-the-field value to the team is less straightforward. The Dodgers' revenue data is not publicly available, as is true for most teams.

But in a new interview with Sports Business Radio, team president and CEO Stan Kasten said Ohtani's arrival immediately brought in 10 times the revenue in one key area.

"We do tours in four languages, 365 days a year," Kasten said. "It's big business and they stop in our store. In January, our store's open every day. Before Shohei got here, we would do about $3,000 a day in the store. And, Shohei's first offseason, we did $30,000 a day. So he has an impact that we could not have predicted."

Calculate that out over a full year and the Ohtani effect — strictly as it concerns merchandise sales in the team store — is the difference between roughly $1.1 million and $11 million.

By itself, that's enough to justify Ohtani's $2 million take-home annual salary. (His contract defers $68 of $70 million each year, to be paid out after the 2033 season.) Kasten says as much later in the interview, broadly referencing all the ways signing Ohtani has helped the Dodgers' bottom line.

The "Ohtani effect" also encompasses numerous Japanese corporate sponsors and television-rights deals the Dodgers have signed over the last two years.

Following the signings of Ohtani and starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Japanese companies such as JTB, Kose and All Nippon Airways signed advertising pacts with the Dodgers. Earlier this year, the naming rights to Dodger Stadium were sold to Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo.

The Dodgers also saw attendance bumps in the regular season and postseason, and the revenue boost that every World Series championship run brings, that can be attributed at least in part to the two-way star.

Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract is enormous, but according to sources, the Dodgers made back the entirety of the contract in Ohtani’s first season in tickets, marketing deals in Japan/global, merchandise.

His impact on baseball’s growth cannot be understated.
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) October 18, 2025

It's a lot of numbers to add up. Merely knowing one small detail among them is instructive.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X/Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google