MLB’s roots in Japan date back to a 1934 A.L. barnstorming squad that included Babe Ruth.
Now, after a World Series including Shohei Ohtani that was celebrated as much (if not more) in Japan as the U.S., MLB officials are characterizing the March 18-19 series in Tokyo between the champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs as their largest international event ever.
“In terms of commercial support, the Tokyo games are approaching our All-Star Game,” said MLB CRO Noah Garden. “We’re going in five days early, because we’ve got business and fan-facing events every day. … We’ve got lightning in a bottle from Shohei, but the good news for us is we’ve got four other Japanese players in the Tokyo Series.”
The 2024 World Series was Japan’s most-watched ever, garnering an average viewership of 12.1 million.
Dodgers owner Guggenheim Partners is presenting sponsor of the series, and the team will wear a Guggenheim sleeve ad patch. IT services company SCSK will have branding on batting helmets of both teams. The Cubs will wear a sleeve ad for Nippon Express.
Other sponsors for the Tokyo Series: 7-Eleven, Asahi, Brand USA, Deloitte, Dip, Earth Corporation, Google Cloud, Gulliver IDOM, ITO EN, Japan Airlines, JTB, Konami, Kose, Kowa, Mastercard, MGM Resorts Japan, New Balance, Samty and Zoom.
The 2024 Seoul Series was MLB’s largest ever for sponsorship, and the league said the Tokyo Series event will surpass that by 240%. Overall global sponsorship revenue for MLB is 8%-10% of total sponsorships, and Garden said MLB hopes to “double that, at a bare minimum.”
The games will be broadcast across 200 countries (Fox, FS1 and RSNs in the U.S.), and seen in 150 theaters in Japan.
Larger-than-life Japanese entertainment brands, including Demon Slayer and Pokémon, are supporting with content and licensed products. At the Tokyo Dome, which is hosting the games, there will be a 30,000-square-foot licensed product store, another biggest-ever for MLB.
Consumer products support is robust, especially after 2024, when MLB licensed product sales in Japan increased by 62%. For the Tokyo games, 20 retailers across Japan are offering a variety of new MLB products in more than 100 locations, including brand flagship stores, shop-in-shops and pop-up shops. Featured brands will include ’47 brand, Alpen Group, Atmos Pink, Avirex, AZUL by Moussy, BEAMS, Beauty & Youth United Arrows, BTTF, Fanatics, GR8, Journal Standard, Keboz, Kiddy Land, Madhappy, MilkFed, Murasaki Sports, New Era, Ralph Lauren, Ron Herman, THE CAP and Xebio.
