The Billion-Dollar Dodgers: How Smart Strategy and Global Reach Made MLB History

As of this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers have officially hit a milestone that few professional sports teams ever will, and no MLB team ever has before.¹ The Dodgers have generated $1 billion in gross revenue.² This accomplishment puts them in an exclusive club, joined only by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and La Liga’s Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.³ Much like their constituents in this tier, the Dodgers have earned their way to the top of the revenue generating team through smart domestic moves, stellar play, and captivating an international audience.

Domestically, the Dodgers have executed flawlessly in growing their brand. When Mark Walter bought the team for $2.5 billion in 2012, it was far from the massive franchise that it currently is.⁴ At that time, their payroll was tenth in the league, which contributed to a three-year playoff drought.⁵ The drought in combination with their last World Series appearance coming in 1988 resulted in the team coming in at only eleventh in ballpark attendance.⁶

Financial mediocrity was quickly thrown out the window as in 2013 the Dodgers signed the largest TV contract ever for $8.35 billion dollars.⁷ This allowed them to double their 2013 payroll, catapulting them into the top three across the league, a spot they have stayed in for all but two years since.⁸ The increased spending allowed the Dodgers to break their streak and not only make the playoffs but advance all the way to the National League Championship Series.⁹

The Dodgers looked to be on the up and up, and they would continue to make the playoffs each year but always fall short of the World Series appearance they were chasing.¹⁰ Finally, in 2017 the Dodgers secured a World Series appearance, but it would not be until their third appearance under Walter’s ownership that the Dodgers finally won the championship in 2020.¹¹

Following their win in 2020, the team was dominating both financially and on the field, but their biggest blessing in both aspects would come three years later. In late 2023, the Dodgers announced the signing of two-way player, Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract.¹² The deal was the largest in both MLB and North American sports history, but for good reason.¹³ Ohtani is widely regarded as the greatest player of this century, if not ever.

Signing Ohtani was more than just an attempt to bolster the Dodgers’ already talented roster, it was a brilliant business move. Shohei Ohtani has millions of fans across both Los Angeles and the United States as a whole, but more importantly, he has nearly the entire country of Japan.¹⁴ Baseball is the biggest and most captivating sport across Japan, so by signing Shohei the Dodgers essentially bought the allegiance of an entire country.¹⁵ Since signing Shohei, the Dodgers have leaned further into this strategy, and now they lead the MLB in Japanese born players on active rosters.¹⁶

Shohei himself has mastered keeping fans engaged both in the United States and Japan. Following in prior Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki’s footsteps, Ohtani uses an interpreter to allow both his English and Japanese speaking fans to follow along during his media obligations.¹⁷ Ohtani’s dedication to his domestic and international fans, as well as his historical performances, have led to him becoming the most popular player in the league, according to jersey sales.¹⁸ The Dodgers partially reap the benefits of this popularity, as they have since added several Japanese brands as sponsors to the tune of an additional $70 million in revenue.¹⁹

Now the Dodgers lead the MLB in attendance in the only stadium in the league that seats over 50,000 people – a stadium that is fully paid off, meaning even more revenue for the team.²⁰ Thanks to their strong attendance numbers, they became the most profitable team per regular-season home game, earning an average of $4.29 million each game.²¹ Fans from Los Angeles, the greater United States, Japan, and across the world watch both in person and on TV.

In an area where leagues like the NFL have been attempting to push internationally, the Dodgers have taken the initiative and forged international relationships on their own. Given their success and their international relationships, it is no shock that the Dodgers generate the revenue that they do, and we can expect to see other teams in the near future attempting to do the same.

1. https://www.sportico.com/leagues/baseball/2025/los-angeles-dodgers-revenue-billion-1234874930/ ↩︎
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9. https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/history/postseason-results ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎
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12. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39076745/shohei-ohtani-join-dodgers-10-year-700m-deal ↩︎
13. Id. ↩︎
14. https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-popularity-everywhere-in-japan ↩︎
15. https://www.uniquejapantours.com/10-most-popular-sports-in-japan/ ↩︎
16. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02329/ ↩︎
17. https://www.themirror.com/sport/baseball/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-english-dodgers-1465551 ↩︎
18. https://www.mlb.com/news/most-popular-mlb-jerseys-in-2025-season ↩︎
19. Supra, note 1. ↩︎
20. https://www.thebiglead.com/dodgers-set-records-with-1-billion-revenues-150-million-revenue-sharing-report/ ↩︎
21. Supra, note 1. ↩︎