MLB agent confirms client has $100 million endorsement portfolio

The agent for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said Thursday that his client will make $100 million in endorsements this year, by far the most valuable for any baseball player.

Nez Balelo, speaking at Sportico's Invest West conference at the new Intuit Dome, home of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, told the crowd Ohtani's endorsement portfolio "continues to take on a life of its own."

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Sportico estimated the value of Ohtani's endorsement contracts at $100 million in March, but those figures are difficult if not impossible to confirm. Balelo's agency, CAA, handles both the baseball and marketing deals for Ohtani, and would have first-hand knowledge of whether the nine-figure estimate is accurate.

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto both play in the nation's largest media market, but Sportico estimates the value of their endorsement portfolios at $7 million each. Ohtani's international appeal is a driving factor in many of the products he endorses, as a number of Japanese companies have lined up to join Porsche, Hugo Boss and other brands in making Ohtani the face of their marketing campaigns.

Our Driving Athlete; Shohei Ohtani; visited Porsche Experience Center Tokyo and enjoyed the driving program.#ポルシェドライビングアスリート #大谷翔平が、ポルシェ・エクスペリエンスセンター東京を訪問。プログラムを体験。#porsche #shoheiohtani #mlb #drivenbydreams pic.twitter.com/vGTRfKgYMO
— ポルシェジャパン (@PorscheJP) December 17, 2022

The Dodgers were equally taken aback by Ohtani's marketing potential.

"The truth is, in baseball, one single player doesn't move a needle at all. The sport is not built that way," Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in an interview this week with Dodger Blue. "So the marketing guys say, 'oh yeah he'll be worth an extra $5 million,' it's always BS. Like, always, with one exception — which was Shohei, and there we believed what the marketing guys told us. But again, they were wrong. But they were wrong on the low side this time."

According to Balelo, Ohtani endorses a little more than 20 brands that are carefully vetted and chosen based on his use or belief in the product and the people behind it.

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