The Distinct Position of Teams With IT Subsidiaries
NPB owners traditionally came from newspapers, railroads, food, electronics, and other heavy industries. Rakuten broke that pattern in 2005 by founding the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, and DeNA followed in 2011 by acquiring the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Both parent companies span internet services, e-commerce, gaming, and fintech, the entire digital domain. The parent's character feeds directly into team operations. Both clubs can leverage parent technology assets to accelerate digital strategies. Digitalizing the spectator experience, integrating fan data, and diversifying revenue all become feasible in ways traditional NPB ownership cannot match.
Integrating Game-Day Apps and Ticketing
DeNA and Rakuten lead NPB in app development and operations. Ticket buying, in-stadium information, merchandise purchases, and post-game highlights all live inside a single app, completing the spectator journey end to end. Both teams adopted dynamic pricing early, minimizing empty seats while maximizing revenue, a direct benefit of parent-company analytics and platform expertise. Other clubs are catching up, but initial investment and operational know-how gaps remain. The app is not just a sales channel; it is the data foundation that captures user behavior and feeds future strategy.
Unified Fan Club and Customer Data Management
Every NPB team runs a fan club, but operational quality differs. DeNA and Rakuten apply parent-company CRM expertise to integrate fan data. Game attendance, merchandise purchases, app usage, and social activity are analyzed cross-sectionally to drive personalized marketing. Members who buy a specific player's merchandise receive prioritized notifications about that player's events, for example. Personalization improves both fan satisfaction and per-customer revenue. Traditional ownership models cannot match this level of integrated customer data, giving IT parents a structural advantage.
EC Integration - Optimized Merchandise Sales
Rakuten Eagles tap Rakuten Ichiba, the group's e-commerce platform, to streamline merchandise sales. Rakuten members can purchase team gear in a few clicks and pay with Rakuten Points. This usability and traffic-driving capability are difficult for stand-alone team stores to replicate. DeNA likewise leverages its own payment systems and e-commerce expertise to optimize BayStars merchandise sales. Merchandise revenue is a meaningful share of team income, and an edge here translates directly to financial performance. The benefit is not only sales growth but also the accumulation of purchase data, which informs product design and event planning.
Comparing Revenue Architectures Across Teams
Teams without IT parent companies are nevertheless intensifying their digital strategies. Fukuoka SoftBank leverages SoftBank's communications and IT presence, but the parent's primary business is telecom, not pure IT. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, Hiroshima Carp, Yomiuri Giants, Hanshin Tigers, Yakult Swallows, Saitama Seibu Lions, Chunichi Dragons, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Orix Buffaloes have parents in newspapers, food, railroads, electronics, and other industries but not IT specialists. Their digital initiatives often run through outside vendors, widening the gap with DeNA and Rakuten's in-house subsidiaries. The IT-parent teams show higher digital revenue shares, building income that does not depend on attendance alone. This insulates them from rainouts and weather-driven losses.
Team Operations in the DX Era
Over the next decade in NPB, digital competition will intensify. Game-day apps, data businesses, media operations, and fan CRM all require IT capability. DeNA and Rakuten, with embedded IT subsidiaries, occupy front-running positions. Other clubs are responding: SoftBank explores Yahoo and Alibaba-style integrations, and Fighters strengthens partnerships with external IT firms. At the league level, NPB-wide digital initiatives (such as the Pacific League TV common platform) are evolving to narrow inter-club gaps. The IT-subsidiary strategy is not merely about DeNA and Rakuten's edge; it pulls the entire league's digital transformation forward. The fusion of baseball content and digital technology will shape the next generation of NPB revenue.