Los Angeles FC spent $26.5 million to sign 33-year-old Son from Tottenham, and reporter Simon Evans posted a message to talk about whether the deal was worth it.
Son Heung-min is the most well-known and successful Asian football player in history. It is no exaggeration to say that his position in the hearts of Koreans is comparable to Messi's position among the Argentines. Son Heung-min is the pride of Koreans. Anyone who has been to Tottenham will notice that many Korean fans wearing Son Heung-min's jerseys are coming to make a pilgrimage just to see the idol's style. It can be said that this is a sight that has never happened in England.
Son Heung-min also used his popularity to successfully sign a series of major endorsements and cooperation, including Adidas, the internationally renowned shaving care brand Gillette, the luxury brand Burberry, the fashion brand Calvin Klein, the American luggage brand Tumi, South Korea's Samsung, AIA, Tiger Beer, etc.
Perhaps, the Asian athlete who can compete with Son Heung-min in terms of business appeal is also the baseball superstar Shohei of Otani, who plays for the Los Angeles team. The Los Angeles FC may have seen the impact Shohei Otani has on the Dodgers, and considering the 320,000 Koreans in Los Angeles, they believe that signing Son Heung-min can also get similar benefits.
According to the data from the MEB last season, the global audience in the MLB regular season increased by 18% compared with 2023, with Asian audiences surged by 32%. With MLS' wide coverage on Apple TV, the Korean audience is likely to increase significantly. MLS and Los Angeles FC may also explore some innovative ways to show Son Heung-min's related content to Korean audiences.
MLB also achieved double-digit growth in social media interaction last season, and Shohei Otani, with more than 10 million social media fans, is an important driving force. Son Heung-min's number of fans on INS has also reached 15 million. It can be foreseen that the number of fans of Los Angeles FC and MEF in the Korean and Asian markets will also usher in a significant increase. The market here is the area where MLS has not yet made breakthroughs.
Since Shohei Otani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, at least ten Japanese companies have signed cooperation agreements with the team, and the Dodgers have become one of the fastest growing and most commercially successful teams in MLB. Dodge's newly signed Japanese partners in the past year include retail brands Daiso, ANA, Kowa and the famous Japanese consortium Kinoshita Group.
According to SponsorUnited, in just two seasons when Shohei Otani joined the Dodge, Japanese brands' advertising increased by 218%. Japan's largest travel agency JTB and MLB also signed a multi-year cooperation agreement to meet the needs of more and more Japanese fans to travel to the United States to watch Shohei Otani games.
Although MLB's economic model is different from that of the MAF, it is worth noting that Dodge spent 10 years of US$700 million in order to sign Shohei Otani, which is far more expensive than Son Heung-min's transfer fee of US$25.6 million. For Los Angeles FC, this can already bring them a promising new market and attract more partners.
And the situation after Son Heung-min left Tottenham further proves the rationality of the Los Angeles FC's deal. According to the Daily Mail, Spurs may lose a lot of revenue due to Son Heung-min's departure, including thousands of Korean fans who travel to London to watch games, buy tickets, shop in club stores and keep interacting online. In addition, there are generous additional revenues, such as the club's recent preseason tour in South Korea and friendly matches and related collaborations locally. AIA research shows that about 12 million Koreans regard Tottenham as their favorite football team, accounting for one-quarter of the total population. In addition to preseason tour and match day revenue, Son Heung-min is also an important driving force for Tottenham's authorized revenue in Asia. It is reported that as of 2024, Tottenham has 15 official licensees in South Korea. Although Kane was once the top star of Tottenham, his jersey sales were only one-fifth of Son Heung-min's. It is estimated that the "Sun Heung-min effect" brings more than $50 million in revenue to the club every year.
So will these "Spurs fans" turn to support Los Angeles FC? Very likely. According to Neil Joyce, co-founder of data company CLV Group, 92% of South Korean Tottenham fans are actually fans of Son Heung-min. As is increasingly seen around the world, fans are willing to change the clubs they support to follow their favorite players. Therefore, will this transfer fee of Los Angeles FC be too high? Son Heung-min will prove that he is worth the money.