The jaw-dropping mega-deal between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani is paying off for LA, but it comes with a twist in the end.
When Shohei Ohtani went on the market, everyone knew that the numbers would be huge. Record-breaking even. But nobody seriously expected the half-billion dollar glass ceiling that was unofficially seen as virtually unassailable to be reached and breached. In the end, it was blown away as if it were nothing.
The 10-year, $700 million deal between Ohtani and the Blues stands as the largest contract in the history of sports, but when you are dealing with numbers so vast, so unimaginable, you need to break down into more bite-sized chunks.
The deal includes deferrals which will see Ohtani earn just $2 million a year for ten years, followed by $68 million a year for ten years after the contract is ended.
But wait! It gets more complicated.
Currently, Ohtani makes an estimated $65 million a year in endorsement deals. That figure can rise or fall, but you have to think that it will do a bit of both. Rise for the next few years, and then fall off as his career winds up toward retirement.
For the sake of argument, let’s take the current figures as the baseline for the next ten years. In fact, these numbers will not likely vary too much, because when his endorsements will presumably fall off after retirement, that $68 million back end payment will make up for it. So in broad strokes, this is a decent guide for Shohei’s earnings for the rest of his working career.
In that case, Ohtani will have an income of $67 million per year all total.
If he were to be paid per game, that would be $413,580 per game in the regular season. Spring training and post season would not be included in this figure.
In our own lives, we tend to get paid weekly or monthly, so for comparison, Ohtani will take home $1,288,461 per week, or $5,583,333 per calendar month.
