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You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast presented by gohighlevel.com for a free 30 day trial of the best all in one digital marketing software tool on the planet. Just go to gohighlevel.com travis. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast, where it's a mission to help you make more money. My producer, Erickson Studio on this episode. What's up, man?
C
Looking swole, huh?
B
Me.
C
Me.
B
I try.
C
I'm looking swole. I'm healthy, I'm fit, I'm.
B
And it all happened in three shifts.
C
Three days, actually. I'm just sore and sad. It's really where I'm at. I'm not sad, actually. I was out. I was out early this morning. I woke up 7 o'.
B
Clock. Two, two sound effects, 7 o'.
C
Clock. Went out, went out for a walk while you were still snoozing in your bed, drooling on the pillow. I was getting my steps in and that was just the warmup for leg day. And then I did leg day and my legs look great. You can't see them because it's a podcast, but they look good. And before we get. Before we get into today's episode, I have to make a koozie confession. So the other day we were drinking. Yes, you do. We were drinking Coke Zero like I'm doing today. Hand looks a little shaky. Today we're drinking Coke Zero as we do, and you handed me a koozie. And at first I declined the koozie. And then I said, if you don't remember, Travis, I said, why? You said, do you want a koozie? And I said, why? I do remember that.
B
Yeah.
C
And did you think that was weird? I said, why?
B
A little bit, but I didn't think anything of it.
C
So then you said, it keeps your drink from getting warm. So I'm going to tell you something, and I don't know if this is common knowledge. You just learned that I had no idea that koozies kept your drink cold. I thought they kept your Fingers from getting cold. And I was always like, that's such sissy behavior to be like, I don't want my fingers to get cold from the can. I've never had that problem. I had no clue. It actually helps keep your drink cold.
B
Knowledge gaps, bro.
C
And I think this is. I think the first time I used one was the first time I finished a Coke Zero out of a can. I'd be like, oh, it's still cold. Usually I'm just like, let me gulp that last warm.
B
Seems silly because it's just like a little sleeve, but it does. It's not going to be a thermos. It's going to keep it colder.
C
Is that super embarrassing? I didn't know that. Or is that something that everyone's just learning for the first time?
B
I think most people know that.
C
Okay, let's move on.
B
That's my inclination. But that's also, you know, one of those weird, like, everybody's got knowledge gaps like that, where it's just like, how could you go your whole life without knowing this? And then you figure it out at some point.
C
Yeah.
B
And this just is. This is one of your knowledge gaps. Right. Okay. But we filled it in.
C
Let's move in to the reception.
B
And now you're a. Now you're a koozie fan.
C
I actually almost bought koozies, but see, koozies are another thing. I went to go buy it on Amazon, and I was like, I don't want to spend money on a freaking koozie.
B
It's like, I feel like I'll just
C
come upon one, you know?
B
Oh, for sure. Like, I'll just walk to any convention and you'll walk away with 34.
C
I just didn't want to do it. So anyway. Well, let's talk about steaks.
B
Oh, I thought you were sent me. Oh, yeah.
C
Cheers.
B
When they sent me a bunch of steaks, they also sent me this koozie.
C
How about next time you get the koozies, I'll get the steaks?
B
That's from Frugal McDougal, which is a liquor store in Nashville. Cool. That came with a purchase of some alcohol.
C
Very nice.
B
They're really not difficult to come across, so.
C
All right, well, let's get into the episode.
B
Good luck.
C
Three minutes in, let's talk about Shohei Ohtani, shall we? Do you know who that is?
B
Yes.
C
I didn't know if you would.
B
I was gonna say, I'm surprised you know who that is.
C
I didn't till today when I was outlining episodes. Yeah, okay.
B
So Shohei announced his name swimmingly.
C
Really? Yeah, I totally guessed and said it with confidence.
B
Well done.
C
So Shohei Ohtani is making $2 million from the Dodgers this year. Did you know that?
B
$2 million. That sounds way low.
C
No, that's right. And here comes the premise of today's episode. Shohei Ohtani is making $2 million from the Dodgers this year and $125 million from endorsements.
B
That still is crazy. Where is this from? What source?
C
Bleacher Report.
B
Didn't he sign a $200 million?
C
Listen, listen, listen, listen.
B
Oh, it's all backloaded.
C
Listen.
B
That's right. Yeah, yeah. I do remember reading about this. Yeah, sorry. Go ahead.
C
How about I tell the audience?
B
Okay, go ahead.
C
Per Sportico, Ohtani is Projected to earn $125 million in endorsements and memorabilia in 2026. More than the.
B
In one year.
C
Yeah. Can I get one fact out?
B
I wish you would.
C
Ohtani. I don't want to talk about it now. Ohtani is projected to earn $125 million in endorsements and memorabilia in 2026. That's more than the paid MLB players combined with 46 million total.
B
That's crazy.
C
Only Tiger Woods, Roger Federer.
B
Federer?
C
More like Federia. That guy was a real butt, wasn't he?
B
Good one.
C
And Steph Curry have ever.
B
Way to play off your mispronunciation.
C
Whatever. Only Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Federer, whatever. And Steph Curry have ever crossed $100 million in a single year. Wow. The previous ceiling for MLB endorsement income was around $10 million held by Derek Jeter. And you know how I know who Derek Jeter is? The only reason I know is because in the other guys, he goes, you shot Jeter.
B
You shot Jeter.
C
And that's so funny. And I cemented it in my brain.
B
Now you know that he's a baseball player. I already knew he was basically him play baseball.
C
I already knew all that. Okay, so first and foremost, what do you think about this? Isn't this crazy, Travis?
B
It is crazy. It's also crazy that he only made $2 from the Dodgers. Well, that is, he didn't backload the payments in his contract when he signed.
C
But do you think this is deserved?
B
Breaking deal? Yeah.
C
I don't know anything about a Tony. I came in to go like, you're the sports guy.
B
Absolutely.
C
Makes a lot of money.
B
I don't know, dude. Like, if you're defined, deserved.
C
Well, here, I'll define it right now.
B
Things for being good at baseball.
C
I'll define it right now, okay, the reason this all made sense immediately was when I started reading these facts about him. So he's a top tier asset in two huge markets. One, he's very famous in the us. He's a big name. He's maybe the Michael Jordan of baseball.
B
He's the many people.
C
Is that too far?
B
My point is that he unites global economies and has an en. Massive.
C
Are you reading my notes?
B
No, but that's just true.
C
Well, what I was going to say is he's huge in two markets, the US And Japan.
B
Right. And Japan is a massive market.
C
Listen to this, though you might not know that. Yeah, Japan is.
A
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C
It's a massive market. He's number one in Japan's commercial popularity rankings. He's the first active athlete ever to top that list. And they call it the Ohtani effect. Okay? It's measurable. Listen to this. So there's. When he started endorsing Kosei, I think that's how you say it. Kosei sunscreen and beauty serum. Their male customer base grew 13 times and serum sales jumped seven times. The 2023 World Baseball Classic generated $480 million in Japan in two weeks. Largely because of him. Yeah, I think he deserves a cut of that.
B
That's my point, is like, like, that's why I say define deserve. It's like, okay, does he deserve that type of money to play baseball? Like, I don't know if that's something that we can say whether or not he deserves that. But I'm saying that, like, if you create that much epic value on the. In the world, then you deserve to get a slice of the value that you create.
C
I don't want to. I'm not a fan of this person. So I'm not. I don't want to pull the comparison. And it's very different. But it's kind of like when people get mad about Jake Paul or Logan Paul, like Jake doing boxing or Logan Paul doing wrestling. It's like whether you like how they get it or not, they bring in so many new eyeballs.
B
Exactly.
C
The only boxing match I watched in 2020, Mike Tyson, Jake Paul, was that last year. 2025, was Mike Tyson, Jake Paul.
B
Yeah. But that's true for a lot of people. And it's also pulling in audience that that sport normally does not pull in.
C
I wish you could have seen that fight with them in their prime. Like Jake Paul in his prime. Mike Tyson in his prime. So Jake Paul could have beat the brakes off of Tyson. I don't know much about boxing.
B
This is your camera right here.
C
That would go so viral. Can you imagine if someone didn't know who I was and thought I was just a Jake Paul? Goodbye.
B
That way Jake Paul didn't have to pull punches. He could have just shown him who he was.
C
Here, I'll do one for them. I'll do a viral quote. I don't even want this out there because I'll get killed for this. I'm sick of having to defend Jake Paul. If Jake Paul could have fought Mike Tyson in his prime, you guys would have seen what a true warrior he was. He would have beat the brakes off of Mike Tyson. Yeah.
B
Fact.
C
I'm shaking saying it because I'm scared of what people would say. Someone just banged on the door. Open up. Shot me. He's partnered with several brands. New Balance Airlines. Yeah. Mike Tyson Ohtani has partnered with several brands. New Balance, Japan Airlines, Seiko, Kawa.
B
I don't know. Those sound like Japanese brands.
C
I thought that was Spanish. When I read it, I was like, man, he's big in Mexico too. Kose.
B
He probably actually is big in Mexico.
C
Hugo Boss, Dip Kieran. New Balance is his anchor. I love that New Balance is cool again because New Balance was such the dad shoe for so long.
B
The dad vibe is coming back into style, though, like jean shorts, New Balances.
C
That's the other thing. I should stop working.
B
Dad hat.
C
The dad bod.
B
The dad bod is, I think, in style. I think.
C
Do you think? Okay, well, we'll get back to this. He's the headline athlete of New Balance's $5 billion apparel push alongside Kawi Leonardo Kawhi. Okay. And Sydney McLaughlin. Well, let's do a show where I just try to pronounce people's names.
B
I would actually love that.
C
I'm Eric Skorzinski and today I'm going to struggle through people's names.
B
Cowie, I appreciate you for trying.
C
I just say it. Kauhai.
B
He's also Japanese.
C
I don't know what he is.
B
Kahai. No, it's Kawaii. And he's an African American gentleman.
C
You know what some of my favorite videos are? Is just because you just said it like in Japanese. I saw this guy and it was because the lower you bow is the higher the sign of respect. But it was a guy, and he was, like, refusing to be out. Bowed, and he's, like, laying on the ground of the store and the workers, like, it's such a funny video because he's literally starts bowing, and then this little, like, Japanese lady is, like, bowing a little lower. And then he, like, gets on his knees and bows, and she does the same thing. And then he's, like, crawling on the floor of the store.
B
She's doing it unironically.
C
Yeah, like. But then they start laughing. Obviously understand the jokes there too, but, yeah, it was kind of. Kind of crazy. So 13 times lift in male customers from one endorsement. That's a crazy.
B
I mean, that's. That. That speaks to exactly what he deserves in. You know what I mean?
C
Like, that.
B
Yeah, he should probably own, like, half of that company now.
C
Is there any other athlete that you could, like, if you had to think of an athlete that's, like, even comparable that you've seen in your lifetime?
B
The only ones or the ones that you mentioned before, it's Michael Jordan, Tiger woods, Shaq, Steph LeBron, like, maybe like, Ronaldo or Messi in soccer would. Would have similar endorsement deals like that because they have massive international audiences.
C
Have you ever seen a Charles Barkley? This. This commercial, this black screen?
B
I don't know.
C
Have you ever seen this commercial where he. Where he plays against Godzilla?
B
No.
C
This is a good video. So there's been a couple, but, like, this is kind of unprecedented.
B
It's unprecedented. Baseball, for sure.
C
But also, this is kind of one of the things that's always craz, too, is, like, the US Obviously has some major celebrities. But what's always wild to me is when we were watching, like, White Lotus. Cause I think sometimes we forget, especially when you're marketing to the U.S. like, everything we've ever done has been, like, U.S. clients, you know? And it's crazy. When we were watching White Lotus and they had Lisa from blackpink plays one of the security guards, and, like, that was a huge draw to the show. And I, like, googled her, and she has more followers than, like, the rest of the cast combined. And I was like, it's always wild to me that there's. There's legit, like, Bollywood stars that have more followers than, like, Justin Bieber, you know, it's like.
B
Because there's 3 billion people, right?
C
It's crazy. So. So to be, like, number one in Japan versus being like. I mean, that's gotta be a lot more than being number one in the U.S. you know what I mean?
B
Even Comparatively to Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines, it's like Japan's a bigger market. Yeah, not necessarily just bigger, but also much more affluent and has a lot of money to spend on products, which obviously helps. Yeah, but yeah, in baseball, it's unprecedented. But also, Shohei Otani is doing unprecedented things in baseball. That's why he is a phenom, like freak athlete, superstar.
C
You just said a lot of adjectives that had never been said about me.
B
I was talking about you, bro.
C
You've never seen me play baseball, dude.
B
Superstar.
C
I played killer kickball in third grade. Did you actually have a scar from. Wait, can you see that?
B
Did you get picked first on the playground? Where is it?
C
No, but. Oh, see that skate there? You see that?
B
Yeah.
C
So I was in third grade. I was playing this to give you a sense of my athleticism. I was playing kickball in third grade. My youth pastor, I was getting ready to slide into home, was running my little heart out. He took the ball, he slams it into my ankles like, as hard as he can. And we had those little burrs that get stuck to your sock. And I slid through those. He's like, you're out. I started crying. I had to pick the little things out of my elbow.
B
Game of kickball.
C
You ever played maybe the end of your kickball, maybe my basketball career, you
B
got pick, like middle of the pack, playground kickball.
C
I don't. I bucked a lot of that out. But I will say this. Tara gets mad at me all the time for saying this, but it's true and it's cool. So when I was playing basketball in my small Christian school, but we had a kid that was. There are kids that are good at basketball. It's not like, oh, we were all like the team from Benchwarmers, you know, playing close to them. Baseball. But it's basketball. Whatever. We were playing basketball. We're at basketball camp.
B
Banning was the school on the calendar that you guys practice with. That we knew. Well, like, when I was on JV and I was in seventh grade and barely made jv. And then when I was playing varsity in ninth grade and barely made varsity, I knew when Banning was on the schedule that I was going to get playing time.
C
All right, so anyway, so we were at basketball camp and we had this one guy on the team that was really good. And we did a three point shootout and we kind of. I forget how we split it up, but we basically, like worked our way down to being like, you win this one, then you go to the next one. Like Kind of bracketed a little bit. And then I beat our best player on the team in a three point shot. And everybody was like, losing their mind because they're like, you're not good at basketball. But I literally. It was like Hoosiers when he does, like, the granny throw.
B
Yeah.
C
Except for I was shooting for real. Why am I making myself sound worse? I gave it my all. I gave it my all. I won award for giving my all that week. The hustle. I always got hustle awards because I was. I do it fast. I do it fast. But I would. I would always be the first one to the other side of the court. And you know what? That says something.
B
That does say something.
C
But anyway, so I was shooting, and I could. Every time I made a shot, I was in disbelief. And then I beat him. And then I never played basketball again.
B
Really?
C
I literally didn't play the next season. My senior year, it was 11th grade. I beat the best player on the team. And my wife's always like, big deal, whatever. I'm like, have you ever beat the best player on my team? No. And also, if you're gonna end.
B
I'm proud of them.
C
Terry. Most people go too long.
B
Eric, I'm proud of you.
C
Thank you. That is cool. I did that, right? Yeah, thanks.
B
That is cool.
C
Okay.
B
Those moments are fun.
C
Yeah.
B
That's why I, like, put it, like, I think there's a lot of value to be gained for kids to play sports for reasons.
C
Yeah. I still feel confident about that at 31 years old. It's kind of like yesterday or two days ago when we went to the gym and I had the opposite feeling when we went to go lift weights. And then you grabbed stuff from the far left side of the rack. And I kept working my way down the right side of the rack to find the smaller ones. But it's kind of like when you go bowling, you have to get the pink ball. That has.
B
That's day one, bro.
C
No, but you know what, though? Well, you know what, though? If you're listening to this, you're not at the gym right now. I know you're sitting there eating chips.
B
Hey, to have a one day, there's gotta be a day one. And that was day one.
C
If you want to live like no one else, you got to live like no one else or something. I don't know. Anyway, so let's finish up with Ohtani here. Something the Dodgers are unlikely to do anytime soon, correct?
B
Contractually, actually.
C
So Ohtani actually has a $700 million Dodgers contract.
B
700 million?
C
Yeah, that's what I said.
B
Way bigger than I was thinking.
C
Originally, he deferred $680 million of that contract to 2034-2043.
B
Crazy.
C
He's only going to earn 2 million a year through 2033. The deferral was Ohtani's idea. His agent proposed the same deal to all five finalist teams. Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Cubs and Blue Jays. Don't ask me what area any of those are from, but here's why. So his agent said, he's in such a unique position because he's going to make so much money off the field. He should be praised for this. He did not care at all about the present value inflation, but the reason that he did this was so that they could use money to hire other talent to give him some better supporting players, which is what cirqued.
B
He's clocked in a couple World Series.
C
Absolutely. So if you were Ohtani, would you take a similar deal to have a good supporting crew around you?
B
Absolutely.
C
Would you really? They said, we're going to give you $600 million. You'd be like, but push that off.
B
Well, but it would not have been as big of a contract as it was if you did not defer.
C
Fair enough.
B
But then also he knew like. Like what his agent saying, like, he knew his market value from endorsements and things like that was going to like he's not taken a pay cut. Yeah. Made a hundred million dollars still playing baseball.
C
Yeah.
B
You know what I mean?
C
Which is more than most could ever
B
to be able to go for like the legacy records because he's already a Hall of Famer. He's already going to be put like, he's already in the baseball goat conversation and he's still at the height of his career. Like, he still has plenty of baseball to play. So to make the legacy, to be smart enough now to be able to delay the gratification a little bit on the financial side, even though he's not really, because he's still making that much money. Endorsements. And then to be able to add notches on his belt for his legacy play like that is brilliant, I think. And I think something that a lot of other, like, I think that there will be more superstars who begin to structure deals that way, assuming that they can also make a bunch of money doing things off the field or off the court. So I think it's a great precedent to set because it also, like, imagine coming in to that team with SH Otani and knowing that the only way that it's possible that you were there was. Because he did that. Like the. You. You don't have any doubt in your mind that the guy that, like, the guy in all of baseball is fully focused on the one core mission, which is winning the World Series every single year that you possibly can. You know what I'm saying? So, like, to have a leader that's. That's proving that literally putting his money where his mouth is in that context, like, that has to bring a huge sense of, like, camaraderie and. And togetherness inside of that organization. And there's probably a lot of other people who are kind of following suit and, you know, deferring this and deferring that and saying, like, hey, let's all focus on the number one goal here, because that is. That is the number one goal. The more you win, the more. The bigger the market becomes, the better the team becomes. The more positioned you become, the more money you have to get better players. Like, it works for the entire organization.
C
Yeah, definitely.
B
Well, I'm just got lucky that it happened to be the Dodgers.
C
Well, either way, he's making Otani money. And we've given you a lot.
B
That's the entire reason you picked this episode?
C
No, just so you can have one. I just was saying it out loud in my head to see if it
B
would work, but Ohtani money.
C
I've given you Ohtani value, and I hope you have Ohtani great things to say about this episode and please leave Ohtani reviews on the show. And Travis, do you have a tiny other things to say? Are you ready to wrap it up?
B
That's it for this episode of the show. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems with money in the bank. So let's start there here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time. Peace.
Episode Title: CO-HOST | Make Money with Star Power and Strategic Sacrifice
Host: Travis Chappell
Producer/Co-Host: Erick (Eric Skwarzinski)
Release Date: May 7, 2026
This episode explores the concept of leveraging star power for massive earnings – particularly through endorsement deals and unconventional contract structures. The discussion centers around Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented income from both the MLB and endorsements, using his unique earning strategy as a case study to extract lessons about financial opportunity, the market value of influence, and making strategic sacrifices for long-term rewards. The banter between Travis and Erick incorporates insights about sports figures, branding, and maximizing professional value, all with the show’s trademark humor and relatability.
Timestamps: 02:03 – 03:52
Timestamps: 03:54 – 12:31
Who is Shohei Ohtani?
The Power of Dual Markets:
Comparisons and Cultural Reach:
Notable Quotes:
Timestamps: 09:34 – 11:40
Timestamps: 17:41 – 21:00
Timestamps: 18:49 – 21:00
Timestamps: 14:01 – 17:20
Travis sums up with:
“Money only solves your money problems, but it’s easier to solve the rest of your problems with money in the bank. So let’s start there.” (21:33)
In Summary:
The episode uses Shohei Ohtani’s unique financial setup as an inspiring example for listeners—illustrating how extraordinary value, brand power, and smart sacrifices can create opportunities far beyond the conventional path. Travis and Erick’s approachable storytelling and wit keep the conversation engaging and accessible, making it a must-listen (or read!) for anyone interested in making more money through unorthodox means.