Shohei Ohtani is a $100-million man this year. Salary not included
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In Tokyo, you can’t miss Shohei Ohtani. His picture is everywhere, in advertisements above street crossings and at the airport, on television and in magazines. He endorses shoes and skin care products, airlines and watches and so much more.
Those marketing deals have become so lucrative that Ohtani will make an estimated $100 million in endorsement revenue this year, without a penny from the Dodgers.
In its annual list of highest-paid major leaguers, Sportico reported Ohtani and Juan Soto of the New York Mets are poised to be the first MLB players to make $100 million in a season.
For Soto, the breakdown includes $7 million in endorsements, plus a $75-million signing bonus and a $47-million salary this season. None of his salary is deferred. The total for this season: $129 million.
This week wasn’t about the defending World Series champions visiting Japan, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s transformation, or even Roki Sasaki’s major league debut.
For Ohtani, the breakdown includes $100 million in endorsements, plus a $2-million salary this season. He agreed that the Dodgers could defer $68 million of his $70-million salary during each year of his 10-year contract. The total for this season: $102 million.
No other MLB player comes close to Ohtani in endorsement revenue. According to the Sportico rankings, Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies ranks second to Ohtani — with an estimated $10 million in endorsements this season.
Sportico ranks the Dodgers’ Blake Snell as the third-highest-paid player in MLB this season. His breakdown: $52-million signing bonus, plus $12.8 million in non-deferred salary, plus $750,000 in endorsements. The total for this season: $65.6 million.
Hernández: Tokyo Series atmosphere shows Shohei Ohtani is more than ‘a representative of Japan’
The response to Shohei Ohtani at the Tokyo Dome on Friday reestablished a longstanding truth about the Dodgers: In Japan’s view, there is Ohtani and then there is everyone else.
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