Hsieh agreed with Lo that a well-rounded second-tier player system is badly needed, but does not share his opinion on free-agent players. Nor is he confident that listing CPBL games in sports lotteries would curb gambling.
“The [free-agent] system only benefits more wealthy baseball sponsors, like Chinatrust, that have the financial capacity to support high-profile players who can give the box office a boost,” Hsieh said.
“Underground gambling is a well-established industry. It did not cease to exist after the nation introduced sports lotteries,” he said.
The Sports Affairs Council is meanwhile scheduled to review a surrogate training program today that would exempt selected players undergoing training with professional baseball teams from military service.
The program could become the major source for second-tier players.
Wu Chun-che (吳俊哲), director of the council’s athletic sports department, said although the council requires each team to have at least 20 second-tier players and three coaches for them, not a single team met the requirement last year.
Wu said that the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association has proposed that surrogate program players be trained at the National Athletes Training Center in Tsoying (左營), and that they be collectively trained by coaches recruited by the association.
Liu Chi-sheng (劉志昇), manager of the CPBL’s Sinon Bulls, said the council kept changing its policy on the program, making it difficult for teams to establish a second-tier system.
“The council should not confuse the surrogate training program with the professional second-tier team we are talking about here,” he said. “Players from a professional second-tier team should act as replacements if any of the first-tier players are injured. Participants in the surrogate training program would not necessarily be capable of handling a professional game.”
The council will discuss various possibilities at the meeting today, Wu said.
RSS