There’s more to Shohei Ohtani’s signing for Blue Jays owner Rogers than just baseball.
The business rationale for Rogers to spend up to $800 million US to sign the superstar isn’t limited to baseball.
The Toronto Blue Jays are reportedly one of the last teams still in the running to sign baseball’s superstar Shohei Ohtani. Baseball insiders say it will take between $500-$600 million to land the Japanese phenom.
But for Rogers Communications, the company that owns the team, this isn’t just about baseball. They want Ohtani to come to Toronto to help sell ads and cellphones, not just jerseys and Jays tickets.
“The halo effect for the Rogers corporation would be very, very real,” said Adam Seaborn, a sports media analyst and the head of partnerships at Playmaker Capital.
It can be hard to describe Ohtani’s level of fame. He’s probably the best two-way player in the history of the game — he pitches and serves as a designated hitter.
The financial consequences
Fans travel from as far away as Japan to see him play because he has a massive global fan base. About fifty members of the Japanese media are authorized to cover Ohtani full-time.
According to a well-known Japanese economist’s study, Ohtani’s overall economic contribution to the Los Angeles Angels in just the 2022 season was estimated to be $337 million US.
