Noise concerns have cast a shadow over the success of the first professional games played at Tienmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei.
A Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) game between the Brother Elephants drew crowds of near 8,000 and the highest TV ratings for a game so far this season.
A two-game series between Japan's Orix BlueWave and Daiei Hawks last weekend attracted 10,000 fans to the showcase stadium in Tienmu.
But baseball authorities were handed three tickets for noise violations after Japan's first ever professional league games played abroad.
The Taipei City Government has imposed a maximum 65 decibels of sound policy around the stadium during games (60 decibels after 8pm) in order to placate residents' objections to professional baseball games at the stadium.
As a result, gas horns and microphones for cheeleaders were banned.
But this was not enough at the Japan games and the city government fined baseball authorities NT$27,000 for exceeding the set noise levels.
CPBL General-Secretary Wayne Lee said, "Limiting the sound generated from within the stadium to a 65 decibels level is a very tough goal to achieve, not to mention the ever-impossible 60 decibels sound level."
"It's just impossible to tell the fans not to make any sound when the game is exciting," Lee said.
The next game at Tienmu Baseball Stadium is June 1, when the Lions meet the Elephants.
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