The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) looks set to start its season on time next year after Kaohsiung-based E-United Group agreed to purchase the struggling Sinon Bulls baseball team for NT$130 million (US$4.67 million) on Thursday.
The two groups are scheduled to sign the contract in Greater Kaohsiung on Tuesday.
E-United Group representative Hsieh Pin-yu (謝秉育) said the group agreed to take over the management of the baseball team because it was advantageous to society as well as to the development of the nation’s professional baseball league.
He said the group would also discuss several issues, including the team’s new name, new mascot and home field, and that they welcomed ideas from fans.
The Bulls are one of the four remaining teams in the CPBL. Sinon Corp, which currently owns the team, announced in October that its board of directors had decided to sell the team, which had posted losses of almost NT$90 million this season.
E-United Group chairman Lin Yi-shou (林義守) expressed the group’s intention to purchase the team in a meeting with government officials and the team’s management last weekend and said more details would be discussed this week.
The deal on Thursday evening was finalized after approximately three hours of negotiation. Aside from Lin and Sinon Group chairman Yang Wen-ping (楊文彬), Minister Without Portfolio and former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) and CPBL president Huang Cheng-tai (黃鎮台) and Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) also attended the meeting.
Local media reported that negotiations were not going well in the beginning as Sinon asked for a price which E-United refused to meet.
Huang said Yang quoted the final price himself and that the two groups agreed to it after further negotiation. The two groups also signed a memorandum of understanding afterward.
The Sinon Bulls were previously known as the Jungo Bears (俊國熊). The name was changed after Sinon Corp bought the team for NT$520 million. During the past 17 years in the CPBL, the Bulls won two championship titles, secured 789 victories and lost 904 games.
The Bulls’ home field is in Greater Taichung and they are the most popular team in central Taiwan. However, the team’s performances had gone downhill in recent years, which in turn caused it to lose a lot of fans.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS