Sports
Commentary: Agent Nez Balelo 'wouldn't do anything different' with Shohei Ohtani's $700-million deal
The business of sports often is cloaked in secrecy. You can find out the salary of your favorite player, but how much money his team makes and how much money he makes off the field are the stuff of estimates, not public discourse.
Not on Thursday, though. Is Shohei Ohtani really making more than $100 million this year in endorsements?
Nez Balelo, the agent for Ohtani, did not hesitate.
“Absolutely,” Balelo said at Sportico’s Invest West conference at Intuit Dome.
Balelo is not, shall we say, Scott Boras. He does not embrace public speaking. So we dropped by to hear what Balelo had to say after the first full season of Ohtani’s record-breaking $700-million contract with the Dodgers.
The record did not last long. Juan Soto signed for $765 million with the New York Mets last winter.
And, because Ohtani deferred $680 million and Soto deferred $0, and because a dollar today is worth more than a dollar 10 years from today, the actual value of Soto’s contract is $765 million and the actual value of Ohtani’s contract is $460 million.
Regrets?
“Not at all,” Balelo said. “We wouldn’t do anything different. He won a championship. He went to the right team. Why would we do anything different? No regrets. Nothing.”
Not even about the Angels, the team with which Ohtani chose to play the first six seasons of his major league career. The Angels never posted a winning record with Ohtani, let alone won a championship.
They did, however, stand by their commitment to let Ohtani bloom as a two-way player, even after his first Cactus League season was so rough they fielded questions about whether they would demote him to the minor leagues.
“If we had to do it all over again today, we would have done it exactly the same way,” Balelo said. “We would have chosen the Angels back in the day. It was the right place, with the group and Mike (Scioscia) and the whole team over there. They gave him an opportunity. They stuck with him. He had a tough spring. It was the right home for him at the time.”
“The Dodgers are the right home for him now.”
It was with the Angels — and in particular in 2021, when Ohtani won his first most valuable player award — that he blossomed into what Balelo called a “global superstar.”
However, before the start of his final season with the Angels, Balelo and Ohtani decided there would be no talks about an extension.
“We knew we were going to exercise our rights to go into free agency,” Balelo said.
The Angels opted to try to win with Ohtani in 2023 rather than trade him for a desperately needed infusion of young talent. They were three games out of a playoff spot at the end of July and traded prospects for rental help, then finished 16 games out of a playoff spot.
Balelo would not say exactly how many companies Ohtani endorses but put the number in the “low 20s.”
“It’s not like I’m out there pounding the pavement and soliciting companies,” Balelo said. “After 2021 and 2022, we could have really gone crazy. That’s not who he is. He doesn’t want that.”
He is everywhere in Japan, in advertisements above street crossings and at the airport, on television and in magazines. He endorses shoes and skin care products, airlines and watches and so much more.
An electronic billboard spanning nearly a city block featured advertising starring Shohei Ohtani near the Tokyo Dome in March, when the Dodgers were in town to play the Chicago Cubs to open the season.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“We have to make sure we don’t overexpose him,” Balelo said.
Say what?
“We could probably have 40 or 50 deals,” Balelo said.
That $100 million in endorsement income enabled Ohtani to offer the Dodgers — and other free-agent finalists, including the Angels — the same deal: $700 million, with $680 deferred. The Angels declined. On Thursday, Balelo condemned what he called the “reckless reporting” of Ohtani’s alleged flight to Toronto to sign with the Blue Jays.
The Dodgers took the deal, promising to use the money they would not be spending on Ohtani right away to sign other players.
“They get it,” Balelo said. “They have the vision.”
Within two weeks of signing Ohtani, they had spent more than $450 million on pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.
“He knew the marketing leg was doing extremely well,” Balelo said. “He knew it was not about the money. It was more about getting with a team that would appreciate him and understand him and allow him to develop as a two-way player.”
With Ohtani coming off his second elbow reconstruction, Balelo said he wondered whether teams might recruit him only as a hitter. As it turned out, he said, none made such an offer.
Balelo said he could have pursued deals of as many as 15 years, and maybe even longer, but Ohtani rejected those overtures. When his contract with the Dodgers expires, he’ll be 39.
“He just didn’t want to have the end of his storybook career tail off,” Balelo said, “and then in Year 13, 14 and 15: ‘Who is this guy? He can’t even run down to first.’”
That raises the possibility that Balelo already has negotiated Ohtani’s last playing contract, even though Ohtani is 30.
Ohtani already has won three MVP awards, all unanimously. He would have won a fourth if not for Aaron Judge breaking the American League home run record in 2022. No one besides Barry Bonds has won more than three.
So Balelo might not be done negotiating on Ohtani’s behalf after all. The Cooperstown marketing deals await but, fortunately for the Dodgers, not any time soon.
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Longtime NFL head coach and Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll was fired after just one season with the Las Vegas Raiders, the team announced Monday.
The 74-year-old coach said after Sunday’s win over the Kansas City Chiefs that he “of course” would want to return for another season. But owner Mark Davis had different plans for the former Seattle Seahawks coach.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll jogs on the field during a timeout in the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“The Las Vegas Raiders have relieved Pete Carroll of his duties as head coach. We appreciate and wish him and his family all the best,” Davis said in a statement provided by the team.
“Moving forward, General Manager John Spytek will lead all football operations in close collaboration with Tom Brady, including the search for the club’s next head coach. Together, they will guide football decisions with a shared focus on leadership, culture, and alignment with the organization’s long-term vision and goals.”
The move marks a period of instability for the Raiders organization as they begin their third straight year on the hunt for a new coach.
Carroll, who won the Super Bowl with then-Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in 2014, was brought in with the hopes of bringing that same playoff magic to the Raiders after the team dismissed Antonio Pierce.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll watches his team warm up before an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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Pierce was also fired after just one season – he served as the interim head coach in 2023, after Josh McDaniels was fired midseason.
But Carroll wasn’t able to live up to those expectations.
The Raiders went on a 10-game losing streak, Geno Smith finished with a league-high 17 interceptions and for the second season, the Raiders finished at the bottom of the AFC West with a 3-14 record.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll speaks during a news conference following an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was played in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Carroll was animated after the team closed out the season with a 14-12 win over the Chiefs, but was immediately met in his postgame presser with questions about wanting to come back the following season and reports of retirement.
“Nobody’s talking to me about that,” he dismissed at the time.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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It wasn’t an accident that the Lakers’ first play went to Deandre Ayton. Or that the star big man got the first shot of the third. Or that teammates fed him for back-to-back dunks to help spark a run of five consecutive scoring possessions early in the second half.
After Ayton finished last Friday’s win on the bench, the 7-foot center bounced back with 15 points and eight rebounds against the Grizzlies on Sunday as the Lakers made a point to involve the big man early.
Ayton scored just four points with six rebounds during Friday’s win and watched a tight fourth quarter from the bench because, as coach JJ Redick said, backup Jaxson Hayes “was playing better.” Redick said Saturday that Ayton was “frustrated” he wasn’t getting the ball more in recent games, and his disillusionment showed up on the court.
“It’s a tale as old as time for a big guy,” Redick said after Sunday’s game. “That’s the reality of being a big: someone has to pass you the ball. You’re not initiating the offense.”
Redick said the team identified moments where teammates could have been better at finding the former No. 1 overall pick. There were also other times when Ayton could have been more active on his own. Redick said he mostly wanted to see Ayton being active, engaged and assertive in the game.
Ayton responded by converting six of his eight shots Sunday and helping the team lock down on defense in the fourth. The Lakers clawed back from an 11-point deficit late in the third and held the Grizzlies (15-19) to just 16 points in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. Ayton had two blocks in the fourth quarter.
“We’re winning the right way,” Ayton said. “Bigs can’t feed themselves and I just try my best to do what I can to bring effort. And I trust my playmakers out there to find me.”
The Lakers had 30 assists on 38 made shots, their highest percentage of assisted field goals of the season.
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The Atlanta Falcons did not have to do much thinking about their future when their season ended Sunday.
The team did not even wait for Black Monday, as it fired head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot on Sunday night.
The Falcons hired Morris ahead of the 2024 season, selecting him over candidates such as Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Macdonald and Ben Johnson.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on the sideline against the New Orleans Saints in the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
But Morris’ results were not what the Falcons wanted, going 8-9 in back-to-back seasons.
“I have great personal affinity for both Raheem and Terry and appreciate their hard work and dedication to the Falcons, but I believe we need new leadership in these roles moving forward,” owner Arthur Blank said in a statement. “The decision to move away from people who represent the organization so well and have a shared commitment to the values that are important to the organization is not an easy one, but the results on the field have not met our expectations or those of our fans and leadership. I wish Raheem and Terry the absolute best in their future pursuits.”
Wildly enough, the team’s record is the same as the division champion Carolina Panthers’, so the Falcons were just one win away from making the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 season. One of those losses was to the New York Jets, who would have had the first pick in 2026 instead of the second if that game’s result had been reversed.
Atlanta wound up winning their final four games, but it was not enough for them, or Morris and Fontenot.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on the sideline against the Miami Dolphins in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
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Morris previously served as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, winning a Super Bowl with them. He held numerous roles with the Falcons before going to Los Angeles, including serving as their interim head coach in 2020.
Morris initially replaced Arthur Smith, who served as the team’s head coach for three seasons. Smith is now the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would make the playoffs with a win Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens.
Perhaps the Falcons are kicking themselves for choosing Morris over several others. Vrabel won the AFC East in his first season with the New England Patriots, Johnson won the NFC North in his first year with the Chicago Bears, and Harbaugh is back in the playoffs with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, center, stands with his team while wearing an Apalachee High School T-shirt after a recent school shooting there before an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
There should be several names available to the Falcons, who are desperate to make the most of Michael Penix Jr., who will enter his third NFL season in September.
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