Shotime in San Francisco? How Ohtani would impact Giants off the field

Rarely does someone have a world-wide stranglehold on their respective field like Shohei Ohtani does on the game of baseball.

The two-way Japanese phenom, who officially hit the market this month as the most-anticipated MLB free agent ever, is expected to receive the largest contract in North American sports history.

The Giants are believed to be one of the favorites to sign Ohtani, who reportedly could decide where he'll play in the coming weeks.

Baseball fans already know what Ohtani is capable of on the field and why he likely will land a deal north of $500 million this winter. Arguably the most talented player to ever step foot on a baseball diamond won his second AL MVP award, unanimously, on Thursday and will be one of the favorites to win it again next season. And that's even without toeing the rubber once throughout the 2024 season while he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

In addition to Ohtani's play on the field, it's his draw as an international superstar that will allow any team -- and city -- that is fortunate enough to sign him for the next decade-plus benefit financially the same way the Los Angeles Angels did the past six years.

Organizationally

Signing one of the world's greatest athletes -- to nobody's surprise -- is an investment that could pay off tremendously for the Giants.

Just how much can Ohtani alone generate in team revenue? ESPN's Alden Gonzalez estimated in January, before the 2023 season, that Ohtani is believed to have generated the Angels in the "low tens of millions of dollars" annually. That includes ticket sales, merchandise sales, team/broadcast sponsorship deals and more.

For example, Ohtani's international draw is so large that it has generated the Angels millions of dollars in advertising alone. Many Japanese companies pay for ads that can be seen throughout Angel Stadium and on the broadcast whenever Ohtani is at the plate or on the mound.

On the merchandise front, Ohtani jerseys were the highest-selling of any MLB player this season. More Ohtani jerseys were sold than superstars Ronald Acuña Jr., Aaron Judge, Fernando Tatis Jr., Mookie Betts, Jose Altuve, Julio Rodríguez, Matt Olson, Alex Bregman and teammate Mike Trout.

The Angels' team store oftentimes is packed with fans, many from Japan, as soon as the stadium's gates open 90 minutes before first pitch. Many Angels fans have resorted to doing their shopping during the game and missing the action because of how busy the facility is before and after.

Locally

Ohtani is a tourist attraction in and of himself. He has been since Day 1.

The Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin reported in 2019 that an estimated 157,000 tourists from Japan visited Anaheim during Ohtani's rookie 2018 season, per data provided by Visit Anaheim. It's safe to say that number only has skyrocketed in recent years with Ohtani winning two MVPs and becoming the face of MLB.

That sort of annual boost in international tourism from hundreds of thousands of Japanese fans would greatly benefit the city of San Francisco and the entire Bay Area over the next handful of years should Ohtani sign with the Giants.

Northern California also is home to many Japanese Americans. The cities of Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose all rank in the top 10 of big U.S. cities (population of 250,000-plus) with the most Japanese Americans, according to Pew Research. Sunnyvale, Berkeley, Cupertino and Los Altos also are among the medium- and smaller-sized cities with the most Japanese Americans.

The Giants already have a strong local fan base, but an untapped market of Japanese American fans already living in the Bay could join that group with Ohtani in orange and black.

Internationally

Believe it or not, Ohtani singlehandedly generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the U.S. and Japanese economies combined.

In October 2022, economist Katsuhiro Miyamoto at Kansai University released a report on Ohtani’s economic effects in the 2022 season. The study found that Ohtani's economic impact totaled an estimated $337 million combined for both countries, the bulk of which came from ticket sales, merchandise, his salary, sponsorships and broadcasting rights. (h/t MLB Trade Rumors)

The study calculated Ohtani's impact on ticket sales by hypothesizing the number of home and road fans who attended games because of him, which was an estimated 631,174 fans in 2022 and $45 million in tickets.

That same year, Ohtani generated an estimated $7.26 million in merchandise sales. That and ticket sales, coupled with his salary and sponsorships, generated roughly $143.6 million toward the U.S. economy alone, according to the study.

Ohtani, of course, also had a huge impact on the Japanese economy through merchandise sales, travel packages for Angels games and television commercials. In addition to the impacts on both economies, Miyamoto also factored in primary and secondary economic ripple effects on related industries. In total, Ohtani's estimated economic impact on the U.S. and Japan's economies in 2022 ($337 million combined) was nearly double the money generated from his 2021 AL MVP season ($178 million).

“These numbers are unprecedented for a single athlete,” Miyamoto said. “For example, this [economic effect] is the equivalent of a championship campaign of a popular NPB team like the Yomiuri Giants, Hanshin Tigers, or Softbank Hawks and that is considering a team having about 70 players.”

Much like the NBA, where many fans, foreign and domestic, root for a single player (i.e. LeBron James) and end up supporting whichever team that player is on, many Japanese fans are the same way with Ohtani. Signing him will act as a pipeline to millions of potential new fans and a strong international market.

Upwards of 50 Japanese media members were credentialed to cover Ohtani full-time throughout his six seasons with the Angels, and most of that same press pool likely would make its way to San Francisco if he signs with the Giants, directly promoting him and the franchise to a country of 125 million citizens.

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