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11 months ago
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The immediate impact of Shohei Ohtani's signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers is being felt by the team in the form of increased social media following and jersey sales.
Ohtani's Dodgers jersey broke a long-held record on the sports apparel and memorabilia site Fanatics.
There, the Japanese two-way phenom broke the site's record for the most jerseys sold in a 48-hour period - surpassing records previously set by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Additionally, Ohtani's signing with the Dodgers helped them become the most followed baseball team on Instagram - just surpassing the New York Yankees.
It's all part of the media frenzy that has followed one of the sport's best athletes in a generation.
Shohei Ohtani has broken a Fanatics record for jersey sales across a 48 hour period
His arrival has also boosted the Dodgers' following on Instagram to the highest in the majors
Ohtani announced his monumental decision back over this past weekend to stay in LA
Ohtani inked a massive $700m contract over the weekend that became the highest valued sports contract in history.
The $700m that he's set to earn is $26m more than Barcelona paid Messi to play from 2017-2021.
His average annual payout of $70m is the fifth best in sports history - behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema's deals at their respective Saudi Arabia clubs, the aforementioned Messi deal, and a contract boxer Canelo Alvarez signed with DAZN back in 2018.
But the Japanese star agreed to defer $680m worth of money off until the deal ends - meaning he'll get paid an average of $2m a year for the next ten years before the rest gets paid off for another ten-years afterwards.
Ohtani is valuable as both a pitcher and a hitter - but an injury sustained last year will prevent him from taking the mound at all next season.
He's expected to be back pitching in 2025.
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