Taiwan is set to host a professional winter baseball league, the head of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) said on Monday.
Hwang Jenn-tai said it was very likely the nation would host winter league games in central and southern Taiwan at the end of this year.
CPBL secretary-general Liang Kung-pin said that details on how the teams would be organized and how many teams would take part had not yet been finalized.
The plan is for each team in the league to play 50 games and for the league to be open to players from other countries.
“Japanese and South Korean teams have expressed an interest. We also have our minor league teams and we still need to find players for one more team. We might approach North American clubs,” Liang said.
Japanese and South Korea teams have wanted to send players to Taiwan to play winter baseball in the past, Liang said, but they did not want to join a league formed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association because that would have meant playing against amateurs.
They are much more receptive to the idea of the CPBL taking charge of the new league, Liang added.
Hwang is also hoping that a winter league would help boost tourism.
“We’re not thinking of breaking even this year in hosting the winter league. If there were a tourism boost, it would be the CPBL fulfilling its social responsibility,” Huang said.
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