Dodgers in Playbook for Title Bid!
The Los Angeles Dodgers have reportedly agreed to a deal with Uniqlo to be the "field presenting partner." Here's what you need to know.
For the first time in its 64-year history, Dodger Stadium is attaching itself to a corporate sponsorship. Katie Woo of The Athletic first reported Sunday that the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a deal with Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo to be the official field presenting partner of the historic ballpark. Uniqlo does not have the naming rights to Dodger Stadium itself, as the team reportedly made it a priority to keep the only name the ballpark has ever had intact.
"That has never been for sale,” team president Stan Kasten told the Los Angeles Times in 2017. “It never will be for sale. ” Rather, the sponsorship is for the playing field alone and will likely be something along the lines of Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.
It's a similar setup to another historic LA venue — the playing field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the home of the USC Trojans football team, has been known as United Airlines Field since 2019 while keeping the stadium's name. Uniqlo began as a fast-fashion brand based in Japan in 2017 and has since grown to over 1,000 stores worldwide. As part of the deal, it will have a prominent presence throughout the ballpark, including a new sign in the center field plaza.
Per The Athletic, Uniqlo will also hold exclusive marketing and promotional opportunities as the organization’s top sponsor. It adds yet another major Japanese-based sponsor since the arrival of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani prior to the 2024 season. That year alone, the Dodgers added roughly 12 new Japanese sponsors and generated roughly $70 million in sponsorship revenue, according to Forbes .