The Los Angeles Dodgers began wearing an advertisement patch on their jersey for the first time in their history this season, joining a number of teams who have already begun doing so.
The Dodgers’ patch is a logo of Guggenheim Partners, who of course have owned the franchise since March 2012 under the Guggenheim Baseball Management umbrella.
Guggenheim is trying to grow their brand after spending $1.2 billion in player contracts during the offseason, making them a natural fit to become the Dodgers’ first jersey partner.
Before reaching a deal with Guggenheim, the Dodgers reportedly had a high asking price for their jersey patch due to the presence of Shohei Ohtani, via Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated:
The Yankees sold their uniform patch this year (along with other advertising agreements that come with it, such as stadium signage) for a reported annual value of $25 million. The Dodgers, according to two sources familiar with such talks, were seeking a more lucrative deal because of Ohtani.
The Dodgers signed Ohtani to the richest contract in professional sports history during the offseason after a historic start to his career as a two-way player.
Aside from his on-field production, Ohtani can bring value to an organization through marketing, sponsorships and merchandise sales due to his immense popularity among fans.
Thus, it makes sense that the Dodgers would place a premium on the rights to have a company’s logo appear on their jersey this season. In the end, L.A. partnered with a firm that has long been connected to them.
Shohei Ohtani bonding with hitting coaches
Shohei Ohtani is showing off a side of himself that was unfamiliar to the Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts early in the year.
The process of players and coaches becoming more familiar with Ohtani was slow to begin with, but the departure of Ippei Mizuhara following his alleged theft and illegal gambling activity seemed to open that up.
Roberts said Mizuhara made communication with Ohtani more difficult than it needed to be for the Dodgers coaching staff.However, with Will Ireton now working as the in-between for te two sides, Ohtani has been engaging more everyone on the team.
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