Is professional baseball pitcher Shohei Ohtani too big to fail?

Samantha Masunaga and Don Lee, Tribune News Service

Shohei Ohtani looms large over Little Tokyo. His towering 150-foot visage on the side of the Miyako Hotel is only the latest, most obvious sign of the mania — and huge financial prospects — surrounding the Dodgers’ two-way superstar. Soon, crowds of tourists, from around the region and as far away as Japan, are expected to descend on Little Tokyo, and the small businesses there are ready. There will be special Ohtani-related deals at 31-year-old restaurant Mr. Ramen. Udon restaurant Marugame Monzo already has a window display with stuffed Totoros wearing Dodgers batting helmets and jerseys, an Ohtani pennant proudly centered. Where Ohtani goes, the money follows. That’s why you could almost hear a collective sigh of relief when Ohtani categorically denied this week, ahead of the Dodgers’ home opener Thursday, that he never bet on sports, or anything else, for that matter.

And it wasn’t just relief from true-blue Dodger fans who are looking to Ohtani to bring World Series glory to the team they love. Many businesses, corporate sponsors and private investors, not to mention Major League Baseball and the city of Los Angeles, all have a big stake in Ohtani’s ongoing success. Never mind baseball, an unblemished Ohtani represents a sky full of financial rainbows. “When you consider the upcoming role the Dodgers and MLB will play in his growing global notoriety, the continued globalization of sports business and baseball more specifically, his long-term potential, [including his] post-career, is enormous,” said David M. Carter, a sports business and marketing expert at USC. “It is because of this remarkable potential that all those that make money from baseball want him to be in the clear across the board.” That may take some time as both the MLB and the IRS are investigating the alleged gambling and theft by Ohtani’s friend and former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. In his first public comments on the matter Monday, Ohtani also made clear that he never knowingly covered for Mizuhara’s losses, something that Mizuhara claimed Ohtani agreed to do.

While there are still many questions to be answered, and some investors are wary, most remain bullish on Ohtani and his future career and potential — as a ballplayer and marketable athlete. “At least for the time being, I don’t think there’s any worry about what his value is,” said Mark Roesler, chairman and chief executive officer of CMG Worldwide, a Beverly Hills firm that has represented hundreds of famous athletes and other celebrities in branding, marketing and intellectual property management. “I think Ohtani is on the road to become perhaps the greatest baseball player to play the game,” he said, noting the Japanese ballplayer’s ability to excel as both a hitter and pitcher, something not seen since Babe Ruth. “He’s got enormous potential that stretches around the world. The money is just naturally going to come about at that level.” Ohtani is already way ahead of anyone else in professional baseball in endorsement earnings, estimated by Sportico at $65 million last year. His roster of sponsors is deep: New Balance, Porsche, Oakley, Hugo Boss, to name just a few.

Ohtani’s biggest sponsors, including New Balance, have remained largely mum about the gambling news involving Ohtani’s ex-interpreter. Most experts say they doubt that Ohtani would have jeopardized his career by betting on games and later telling the world that he never gambled. Still, there may be at least a small cloud hanging over him until the feds conclude their investigation. Meanwhile, tour operators on both sides of the Pacific are looking to capitalize on his brand. They’re promoting newly-designed baseball packages that include Dodger Stadium field tours and increasingly pricey and hard-to-get game tickets, thanks in no small part to Ohtani’s popularity. “Everyone is long on Ohtani, no one is short,” said Michael Osacky, president of Baseball in the Attic and lead appraiser for PSA, the world’s biggest third-party grader for sports collectors. Recalling the scene at the National Sports Collectors convention in Chicago last summer, he said, “They were like crazy people looking for anything Ohtani. It was all Ohtani, Ohtani, Ohtani.” Since the interpreter’s gambling news broke last Wednesday, however, Osacky said the action on Ohtani collectibles has quieted as hedge funds and other parties who have been buying wait for more developments. Still, no one is selling, and some investors said it may be good to load up on Ohtani products.

Last year, an autographed Bowman chrome refractor card of Ohtani in his 2018 rookie year fetched $184,000. The price for a bat that he used to smash his first grand slam: $168,000. For now, most everyone seems to be pulling for the boyish-faced slugger. “It’s easier for fans to decouple Shohei from his friend and interpreter,” said Dae Hee Kwak, director of the Center for Sport Marketing Research at the University of Michigan. “If you’re a Shohei fan, you’re just like ... well, it’s Ippei.”

The Dodgers organization may have the most at stake, having signed the two-time MVP to a record 10-year, $700 million contract. The MLB has a lot riding on him too as it looks to expand its worldwide reach by tapping into the drawing power of players like Ohtani. Early this year, the league signed a multiyear partnership with JTB, Japan’s largest travel agency. Japan has long had many baseball fans and produced some star players in the U.S., including Ichiro Suzuki, who is expected to be inducted in the Hall of Fame next year, and former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo. But Ohtani is in a different category, said Kaori Mori, JTB’s branding and PR manager in Tokyo. “We feel that this situation is making people who never thought of going all the way to the US to watch baseball consider going to the US,” Mori said. She said there was so much demand for the Dodgers-Padres series in Seoul earlier this month that JTB held a lottery for its tour packages.