For Blue Jays owner Rogers, signing Shohei Ohtani is about more than just baseball

The Toronto Blue Jays are reportedly one of the last teams still in the running to sign baseball's superstar Shohei Ohtani. Baseball insiders say it will take between $500-$600 million to land the Japanese phenom.

But for Rogers Communications, the company that owns the team, this isn't just about baseball. They want Ohtani to come to Toronto to help sell ads and cellphones, not just jerseys and Jays tickets.

"The halo effect for the Rogers corporation would be very, very real," said Adam Seaborn, a sports media analyst and the head of partnerships at Playmaker Capital.

It can be hard to describe Ohtani's level of fame. He's probably the best two-way player in the history of the game — he pitches and serves as a designated hitter. 

He has an enormous following around the world, and fans fly in from as far away as Japan to watch his games. About 50 Japanese media members are credentialed to cover Ohtani on a full-time basis.

A study by a well-known Japanese economist found Ohtani's broad economic impact as a member of the Los Angeles Angels was around $337 million US in the 2022 season alone.

"He is frequently referred to in the press as a unicorn, as if he were singular," Major League Baseball historian John Thorn told the CBC Radio program The Current over the summer. "But unicorn simply means one horn and is an imaginary beast. Ohtani comes as close to an imaginary beast as we have ever had in baseball."

Experts say bringing in someone like "Shotime" Ohtani would have an immediate impact on the many business lines that Rogers has that have nothing to do with baseball.

It would help their TV properties because games would draw much bigger audiences. Rogers also owns the broadcast rights to every Blue Jays game. So they would stand to make yet more money from higher commercial sales.

The corporate giant could leverage Ohtani's fame to boost every business line in the company.

"You would see Ohtani in cable and wireless ads for Rogers' core business. And even if you don't, he's playing down at the Rogers Centre on Rogers Sportsnet. On the Rogers Radio Network," Seaborn told CBC News.

So, everyone is scrambling to get in on the Ohtani sweepstakes, but it's being widely reported that the Blue Jays and the L.A. Dodgers are the last two teams in the running.

Rogers has recently spent a pile of money boosting its baseball operations — some $300 million has gone to renovating the Rogers Centre, and the team's U.S. training facility in Dunedin, Fla., got a $100 million US facelift last year.

Brian Cooper, the chair of sports and entertainment marketing agency MKTG Canada, says the company's board would have to sign off on whatever offer the Jays make to Ohtani.