The Dodgers are very good, and very rich. If the owners of the other major league teams eventually find that combination so unattractive that they shut down sports this winter because of them, they will risk breaking away from one of the biggest fan bases in American sports history.
The four million Dodgers tickets sold last season tells only one part of the story. Here’s the arguably better one: For decades, the Dodgers and Lakers have dominated sports in Los Angeles and left all other teams far behind in popularity.
Currently, after back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers have left even the Lakers far behind in popularity, with every other team in town far behind.
In a Loyola Marymount survey asking Los Angeles County residents to name their favorite among 12 sports teams in the local media market, nearly half chose the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ lead over the Lakers – 43% to 28% – represents the largest gap between the teams in nine surveys, which were first conducted in 2014 by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles.
The Rams ranked third with 7%, followed by the Kings with 5% and the Angels with 4%.
Two women’s teams – Angel City FC and Sparks – tied for last, each with less than 1% of the vote. Even when the study breaks down votes by gender, the two women’s groups each received less than 1% of the female vote.
As recently as 2018, five teams beyond the Dodgers and Lakers – the Angels, Clippers, Galaxy, Kings and Rams – attracted at least 4% of the vote. In this year’s survey, only the Rams did.
“I’m a big Rams fan,” said Fernando Guerra, the center’s director, “and I still put the Dodgers first.”
“I love all these teams. But, if you have to pick one, it’s the Dodgers.”
Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and prominence of the players, popular ballpark and generational fan support as contributing factors to the high level.
“If you have a lot of good things but you don’t win, you won’t be at the top,” Kasten said. “Also, if you win but you don’t have other qualities, you won’t be that high.
“I think, right now, we’re pretty close to clicking on all cylinders.”
Beyond the wins, Guerra cited Shohei Ohtani as the driving force behind the Dodgers’ popularity, and not just as a tourist attraction, merchandise driver, and major brand sponsor in sports.
In 2018, Ohtani’s first season with the Angels, 8% of self-identified Asian fans chose the Angels as their favorite team and 34% chose the Dodgers — a better showing for the Angels, from a survey of LA County residents, not Orange County.
That demographic this year: 4% chose the Angels, 47% chose the Dodgers.
In their 10 years since returning to Los Angeles, the Rams have made seven playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. All that, plus half a century in their previous run in LA, and their membership in America’s most popular sports league, and the best they could do was 7%.
“It’s hard to break the Lakers’ and Dodgers,” Guerra said. “It’s not like we don’t like the Rams or anything. It’s not your priority.”
The Lakers and Dodgers have combined to win 20 games in Los Angeles. The other 10 teams that call this market home combined for 16 wins.
In the 13 seasons since Mark Walter and Co. they bought the Dodgers, the team had won 12 division titles, made five World Series appearances, and won three championships. During that time, the Lakers won three division titles, advanced to the first round of the playoffs twice, and won one championship.
Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers last year. He installed Lon Rosen, formerly the Dodgers’ senior vice president and chief marketing officer, as president of the Lakers’ Operations of Business.
“When the Lakers win more championships, they are No. 1,” Rosen said. “If the Dodgers are there, they’re No. 1.
“It’s a good place to be, as we control both teams, and both teams are very successful.”
In this moment, the Dodgers are very successful.
“The Lakers and Dodgers are going to be neck and neck pretty soon,” Rosen said. “The Lakers will 100% be champions again soon.”
The Dodgers don’t admit the neck-and-neck days will return. Kasten, remember, said the Dodgers were very close to clicking on all cylinders.
“We don’t take that for granted,” he said. “We know we can do much better.”
