Tonight in Unpacks: The Dodgers have seen their share of stars during Mark Walter’s ownership, but he wasn’t prepared for the sponsor interest in Shohei Ohtani, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith.
You’re reading the Lite version of SBJ Unpacks. Subscribe to SBJ All Access for the full version of this newsletter, plus daily email alerts, executive transactions, virtual SBJ Event access and dozens of other subscriber-only benefits. Here are the stories you’re missing in tonight’s full newsletter:
Also tonight:
- ESPN+ revenue per subscriber up even with drop in overall number
- Sources: Truist to land PGA Tour's Charlotte event sponsorship
- Caesars breaks ground on new Monmouth Park sportsbook project
- Op-ed: No matter the question, sports documentaries are the answer
Listen to SBJ's most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where SBJ’s Joe Lemire discusses the PWHL’s remarkable first regular season, Truist taking over naming rights for PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship, Snoop Dogg bringing the “juice” to college football and more.
Dodgers owner Mark Walter: 'It's really been unbelievable' seeing sponsor response to Ohtani
Dodgers owner Mark Walter has been blown away by the response of brands wanting to be involved with the Dodgers in the wake of signing Shohei Ohtani in the offseason.
“It’s really been unbelievable, the sponsorships that have come in and the companies that are reaching out to us,” Walter said today at the Milken Institute Global Conference. “We have six tour guides bringing Japanese tourists through the stadium every day. It’s just non-stop.”
Walter also believes his competitive nature was instrumental in landing Ohtani over other MLB opportunities (a process he said was a coin flip). "At the signing, [Ohtani] said it was something that we’d told him,” Walter recalled. “Despite the fact that we’re the winningest team in baseball for the last 10 years -- we’ve been to three World Series and five NLCS -- I told him I really thought we were still a failure and we really had to step it up. I do feel that way, that we have yet to really establish what we should.”
Walter and Dodgers investor Magic Johnson took part in wide-ranging conversation at the conference with sportscaster Jim Gray focused not specifically on the investment opportunity in pro sports, but rather broader impact they can have on community. Johnson recalled how the time he spent over a decade ago identifying potential business partners included interviews with five billionaires. “The main thing for me was a person who also wanted to uplift the community,” Johnson said. “Mark and I got along so well. We want to win, but we also want to do good and do some great things in the community.”
Walter added that he views the roles that he and Johnson have with the Dodgers as custodians for a team that truly belongs to L.A. Last week, he announced that the team’s ownership group is donating $50 million to its charitable arm, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, and an additional $50 million should the team reach this year’s World Series.