While the Los Angeles Dodgers say Mark Walter's sale of the Lakers will have no impact on the baseball club and there are no plans to sell the back-to-back World Series winners, their best player's record-setting contract is tied to the current owner's presence in the organization. As part of Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract deal for the 2024 season (with $680 million deferred), the four-time MVP has the ability to opt out of the contract if Walter or Dodgers president Andrew Friedman leaves the organization. Ohtani's contract states that if there is "specific change in Dodger personnel, player may opt out of contract at end of season the change occurs," USA TODAY Sports reported in 2023. It was believed to be the first time such a "key man" provision had been included in a player contract. “When you sit down with people and you form a bond and a partnership," Ohtani's agent Nez Balelo told USA TODAY, “it’s important that you keep the band together. "If the band falls apart, at least you have options. We felt like it was important to say that as long as everyone stays together, we’re all in."
The news that Walter was selling the Lakers a year after buying the team came as a shock on Wednesday, Aug. 12 and immediately led to speculation that it was a harbinger of something to come with the Dodgers. But CEO Stan Kasten insisted that the Lakers transaction was "not really a Dodgers story" and said "they're completely separate. There are no changes here or contemplated here." Walter and his company are currently facing a federal probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for alleged loan fraud using insurance money from policy holders to pay loans to undisclosed outside business ventures. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani allowed to opt out of contract if team is sold