Ohtani's Value 920 Billion Won, Equivalent to 3.6 Times Lotte Tower When Stacked

Signed a 10-Year $700 Million Contract with LA Dodgers
Highest Total Value in Global Sports History

Baseball player Shohei Ohtani (29) signed a 10-year, $700 million (approximately 920 billion KRW) free agent (FA) contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) on the 10th (Korean time). With this, Ohtani became the highest-paid athlete in the history of professional sports worldwide.

Ohtani's Value Surpasses Messi's... Enough to Build 5 New Baseball Stadiums in Korea

Baseball player Shohei Ohtani (29). [Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day, MLB stated on its website, "Ohtani's contract surpasses the record-breaking deal of soccer superstar Lionel Messi, who signed the largest contract in history with Spain's La Liga FC Barcelona from 2017 to 2021, worth $674 million." Although Messi earns a higher annual salary, Ohtani's total contract amount is the largest in professional sports history.

Ohtani's value is literally an 'astronomical' amount.

Assuming he receives 920 billion KRW in 50,000 KRW bills, stacking them would reach approximately 2,024 meters. The thickness of 100 bills of 50,000 KRW is about 1.1 cm.

This is 3.6 times the height of Korea's tallest building, Jamsil Lotte Tower (555 m).

Also, with Ohtani's value, about five new baseball stadiums could be built in Korea. The construction of Changwon NC Park, considered MLB-level, cost 127 billion KRW, and the only dome stadium in Korea, Gocheok Sky Dome, cost 195 billion KRW.

Ohtani's value is comparable to the operating budgets of some teams. Foreign media reported, "Ohtani's annual salary exceeds the total one-year payroll of the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics."

If Ohtani saves his salary for about a year and a half, he could even buy a popular KBO League team.

The total price paid by Shinsegae Group when acquiring the SK Wyverns in 2021 was 135.2 billion KRW.

The highest value for a Korean player was Choo Shin-soo (currently with SSG Landers), who signed a 7-year, $130 million FA contract with the Texas Rangers in December 2013.

Ohtani's current contract value is five times the total amount and more than 3.7 times the average annual amount compared to Choo Shin-soo.

Equivalent to 570 Million KRW per Game... Next Year, 110 Million KRW per Plate Appearance

Changwon NC Park, considered to be at the MBL level. [Image source=Captured from NC Dinos official website]

Ohtani is expected to play only as a designated hitter in the 2024 season due to an elbow injury. If he participates in all 162 regular-season games, it calculates to about 570 million KRW per game.

Assuming he comes to bat about five times per game, that equates to 110 million KRW per plate appearance.

The average salary in the KBO League for the 2023 season is 14.648 million KRW, so Ohtani earns an amount equivalent to the average domestic professional baseball salary each time he steps up to the plate.

However, from the 2025 season, Ohtani can perform as both a pitcher and a hitter.

He has pitched in over 20 games and appeared as a hitter in over 90 games for three consecutive years from 2021 to this year.

Over the past three seasons, Ohtani has thrown an average of 2,487 pitches and appeared in 634 plate appearances annually.

Assuming Ohtani remains healthy and his value is split evenly between pitching and hitting, he would earn 18.5 million KRW per pitch and 72.87 million KRW per plate appearance.

Meanwhile, multiple local foreign media outlets interpreted, "Ohtani proposed an 'unprecedented deferral' of a significant portion of his salary to be paid after the contract period ends. This appears to be a gesture of consideration by the Dodgers to ease competitive balance burdens and strengthen their roster."