As expected, Major League Baseball’s season-opening trip to Japan is the league’s largest stand-alone international event in league history.

The league said Friday that the two-game series earlier this week at the Tokyo Dome between the Dodgers and Cubs set an array of records for viewership, attendance, and merchandise sales—showcasing the soaring popularity of the league in Japan and the rabid fan reception for the homecoming of native-born stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki. 

The historic totals included an average audience of 25 million in Japan for the first game, smashing the record for MLB viewership in the country set during last fall’s World Series. The second game then nearly matched it with an average of more than 23 million. Adjusted for Japan’s population, such figures are greater than what the recent AFC championship game drew in the U.S. The games happened during prime time for Japanese viewers, contrasting with the early-morning airing there of the World Series. 

Even a set of four exhibition games preceding the season-opening contests—also involving two Nippon Professional Baseball teams—drew big numbers in Japan, averaging 11.6 million across all platforms.

Back in the U.S., the first Dodgers-Cubs game drew an average of 838,000 viewers on Fox, while the second on FS1 averaged 350,000—despite the fact that the games started at 3 a.m. local time in Los Angeles and at 5 a.m. in Chicago. Collectively, U.S. viewership surpassed last year’s Seoul Series between the Dodgers and Padres by 59%.

The two games, along with the four prior exhibitions, also drew a combined attendance of 252,795 at the Tokyo Dome. The MLB Tokyo Series Fan Fest attracted more than 450,000 fans over a 12-day run, representing the most-visited fan festival of any type in league history. 

MLB, meanwhile, had the best merchandise sales of any international event in its history, beating the prior record-holder, the 2024 London Series, by 320%. 

The league went into the trip with lofty expectations, as did fans who drove ticket resale prices to Super Bowl–type levels and then saw two lively sellout crowds cap a weeklong celebration of baseball in Japan. 

The Dodgers, led by newly extended manager Dave Roberts, won both games in Japan, beginning a World Series title defense in perfect fashion.

March Madness is already off to a hot start on TV with the most-watched First Four under the play-in round’s traditional format. One particularly juicy matchup in this weekend’s games could lead to even more ratings records. 

After No. 10 Arkansas upset No. 7 Kansas on Thursday and No. 2 St. John’s took care of business against No. 15 Omaha in the bracket’s west region, John Calipari and Rick Pitino are set to renew their longtime rivalry in what will likely be the marquee telecast of the second round.

CBS will broadcast Arkansas–St. John’s on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET. 

While the Razorbacks and Red Storm programs don’t have enormous national fan bases in men’s basketball, their Hall of Fame coaches have made a combined 13 Final Fours at five different schools. Calipari and Pitino last faced off in the NCAA tournament in 2014, when a Kentucky-Louisville clash in the Sweet 16 drew 10.1 million viewers.

First- and second-round TV ratings will build on the record 7.4 million combined viewers who watched First Four play-in games on truTV, led by 2.2 million that tuned in to UNC’s victory after its controversial March Madness selection.

Billionaire Basketball

Off the court, both St. John’s and Arkansas are big business stories in their own right.

Pitino led St. John’s to its first Big East tournament championship in 25 years, led by millions of dollars in NIL (name, image, and likeness) funding from billionaire alum Mike Repole, the founder of sports drink BodyArmor and now the majority owner of sports apparel brand NoBull. Meanwhile, with the Johnnies hoping to make their first Final Four since 1985, their fans in New York—the No. 1 sports betting market in the U.S.—are not allowed to place bets on the team.

Calipari stunned the college basketball world last year by leaving Kentucky, where he had five years and $44 million left on his contract, to take the head coach job at Arkansas, thanks to his relationship with Razorbacks donor and Tyson Foods billionaire John H. Tyson. Calipari was able to seal an NIL budget of at least $5 million at his new job.

For a record sale price of $6.1 billion, the Celtics’ new ownership is inheriting a championship-winning roster that has a chance to become the NBA’s first back-to-back title winner since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

But the NBA’s salary structure has the team in a vice grip after this season—one that could see Boston’s championship window end after this year. 

The Celtics are projected to pay around $500 million for their payroll next season, with $230 million coming from player salaries and the remaining $270 million from tax penalties. That would be a record for single-season tax payments, obliterating the $176.9 million of the 2023–2024 Warriors, according to data from Spotrac.

This fee is not final. ESPN’s Bobby Marks pointed out the team has about $445 million due next season at this point, though it’s still missing three roster spots and the half-billion number assume those slots will be filled by the team’s 2025 first-round pick and two players on veteran minimum deals.

To cut down on the fees, the Celtics will likely need to part ways with one of their key players. The team’s starting five of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porziņģis are owed $198.5 million next year—which is about $44 million more than the projected salary cap. That doesn’t include Al Horford, who turns 39 in June and will be a free agent in the summer.

Boston could also face penalties for violating the second apron, which includes the inability to move its 2033 first-round pick in a trade.

“It’s not just the luxury tax bill, it’s the basketball penalties,” team governor Wyc Grousbeck said Friday on The Greg Hill Show. “The basketball penalties mean that it’s even more of a premium now to have your basketball president be brilliant and lucky. We have Brad Stevens, the reigning Executive of The Year, and thank God we do. He’s the one who really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves. … He’s going to extend our window and make it work.”

New Owner Syndrome 

Of course, the new Celtics ownership group led by William Chisolm could decide to bite the proverbial bullet and pay the penalties, and it’s common in the NBA for new owners to keep spending once they have their shiny new toy.

In 2023, United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia purchased the Suns for a then-record $4 billion and celebrated his acquisition by approving a trade for Kevin Durant. A year later, Phoenix mortgaged most of its remaining assets by trading for Bradley Beal. The Suns are projected to have a top-three payroll until the 2026–2027 season.

Puppet Master?

As the Celtics face major personnel decisions, the role of Grousbeck will be worth monitoring. 

It was reported Thursday after the sale announcement that Grousbeck will remain as the team governor until the 2027–2028 season. However, the coming months should reveal whether Grousbeck still has a legitimate say in the team’s roster construction or whether his title is a smoke screen amid an ownership transition.

When Mark Cuban sold the Mavericks to the Adelson family in 2023, it was initially announced he would maintain control of basketball operations as an “alternate governor” alongside a minority stake in the team. Months later, reports came out that Cuban was no longer making team-related decisions—and this was highlighted in February when Cuban told FOS that he was not informed about the team’s decision to trade Luka Dončić.