What I found fascinating about International Marketing and Brand Recognition at The Los Angeles Dodgers game

This past Sunday, I surprised my 10-year old son Henry with tickets to the Los Angeles Dodgers game (with our friend Amy Larkowski , a Cubs fan). If you know me well, you know that Henry and I play and watch a ton of baseball.

We love baseball, and someday he wants to be a sports broadcaster. (Amazing!)

It's the first Dodger game we've been to since the beginning of the season, and only the 2nd time since Shohei Ohtani became a part of the team. As most people know, Ohtani is Japanese, and is one of the best to ever play the game. And going into this season, he signed a massive contract with the Dodgers.

When he was first signed with the Dodgers (from the Angels), there were plenty of detractors to his massive, 10-year, $700M contract - the biggest in baseball history. Is he really worth the money?

I've played baseball since I was 9 years old, and love going to Dodger Stadium for a game (and love it even more, with Henry by my side). But what I found fascinating was the truly international audience in attendance.

Ohtani is having a record-breaking season, doing something no one has ever done. He currently has 53 home runs with 55 RBIs...an amazing record (we got to see the 53rd home run and 55th stolen base in attendance). But who was there watching, LIVE?

Everyone knows that Los Angeles is a melting pot, with people from all over the world either living here, or visiting. But what was fascinating was the massive amount of Japanese-Americans and Japanese TOURISTS in attendance to watch one of their own, do something extraordinary.

In my lifetime, baseball has gone from America's Pastime to a truly international sport, with more and more players coming in from Asia, South America and other parts of the world. The competition has gone WAY up...and I, personally, love it.

And with players like Ohtani (and Yamamoto), coupled with the Dodger's international brand, it creates a powerhouse that makes the massive contracts not only understandable, but also the wave of the future for the select few who can put up massive numbers in the game, and bring in new audiences.

The advertising dollars, merchandise sales, etc, coming in from other parts of the world make it 100% worth the cost - and something more American companies should be paying close attention to. It's no surprise that Ohtani's Dodger jersey is the highest selling this year. In fact, The Dodgers populate three of the top 20 spots with Ohtani, Mookie Betts (4) and 1B Freddie Freeman.

But was Ohtani as big of a deal when he was with the Angels for 6 years? I'd argue it wasn't even close (and the data backs me up, in every which way), because the Angels brand doesn't have the mass appeal that the Dodgers do (Ohtani also never went to the playoffs with the Angels, even with Mike Trout...but I digress).

So why was the audience at Dodger Stadium so different this time? Was it Ohtani's record breaking season? The Dodgers going to the playoffs again and in the hunt for another division title, and hopefully a World Series?

I'd argue it's all of the above. The simple answer is that it's not enough for teams to sign international players - they have to win, and have a recognizable brand to couple together. Then you'll get the new fans, the international coverage, the merchandise sales, the brand recognition...and hopefully another World Series =title.