An investment concept common to venture capital has made its way to athlete contracts.

Already unprecedented on multiple levels, including overall size and amount of deferrals, the $700 million Shohei Ohtani deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers also contains a “key man clause,” according to multiple reports. The two-way phenom has the ability to opt out of the contract if lead owner and chair Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman are no longer with the Dodgers.

The provision means that not only did Ohtani choose the Dodgers in pursuit of his first World Series title, but he has also made a specific decision to align his professional future with Walter and Friedman. 

“Key man clauses” are frequently seen in startups in which investors can back out of a deal, or are prohibited from supplying additional funding, if a company founder or president departs or cannot perform their duties. They also have some precedent among team coaches: Former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon had such a clause connected to Friedman when the latter also was with the Rays.

Ohtani will be formally introduced later Wednesday at a press conference at Dodger Stadium, with more than 300 reporters expected to attend including a large contingent of Japanese media.

Agent Rebuke

Since the Ohtani pact beat the prior MLB contract record — Mike Trout’s $426.5 million deal — by more than 60%, initial logic would suggest that agents would be thrilled at the dramatic upward push in player compensation. But arguably the sport’s most powerful player agent has a very different view.

Scott Boras is lamenting that the $680 million in deferrals in the Ohtani deal have the net result of leaving the top end of MLB’s annual player salary scale essentially unchanged. Ohtani’s $43.8 million in average annual present-day value in his deal barely beats the league’s prior record of $43.3 million held by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

“The market remains status quo,” Boras told The Athletic. “No average annual value at or above $44 million. Clear evidence of a strategic and managed effort.”

The two biggest players in the sports trading card space continue to deliver blows as competition for business grows stiffer and a legal battle gets messier.

In a rare win for Panini, the company recently extended its FIFA World Cup collectibles rights through 2030. Fanatics, though, has been taking other clients from Panini, and even got the NFLPA and WWE to end their Panini deals early in order to jump to Fanatics sooner. This week, Fanatics made its latest splash with a trading card release featuring Tom Brady on the Montreal Expos, the MLB team he never played for but who drafted him in the 18th round with the 507th pick back in 1995.

The back-and-forth has been accompanied by an antitrust lawsuit filed in August in which Panini accused Fanatics of violating federal law with its dominant entry into the trading card business. Fanatics has since countersued, saying Panini’s case is “not only legally baseless, but also hypocritical.” Fanatics also claimed Panini is threatening some of its current and former employees with litigation if they were to join Fanatics.

In the latest court filing on Dec. 8, Panini called Fanatics’ legal action a “public relations ploy” intended to lessen the impact of Panini’s original lawsuit. “The complaint is a screed consisting mainly of inappropriate commentary, argument, and derogatory statements directly responsive to allegations in the antitrust action,” Panini said. The company wants Fanatics’ suit dismissed.

A ruling in the case could come before the end of the year. For now, the trading card wars continue.

MLB has made another big move in its efforts to get fans invested in its stars before they become stars.

The league on Wednesday announced a new event called “Spring Breakout,” a four-day Spring Training showcase during which each MLB team will field a squad of its top prospects and play a series of exhibition games against each other. Twelve of those Spring Breakout games will be paired with MLB exhibitions to form doubleheaders.

The Spring Breakout games themselves will be combined with autograph sessions and other opportunities for fans to meet the minor-league players. Many of the games will also be broadcast on league platforms, including MLB.com and the MLB Network.

Baseball has long been challenged in this area, given the relatively low profile of college baseball and the several years of minor-league play typically required of most prospects. Those factors forge a very different dynamic than that seen in football or basketball, where top players enjoy prominent TV exposure in college and then immediately jump to the NFL or NBA. 

A Domino Effect?

The new event is a continuation of related efforts, such as a recent elevation in the production value of the MLB Draft and additional focus on the annual MLB All-Star Futures Game. In each instance, MLB is attempting to bridge the development time required of most prospects and build fan affinity at an earlier stage. 

“Spring Breakout will provide a new opportunity to showcase the future stars of the game as they continue on their journey to the major leagues,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.