With construction complete, the Taipei Dome has opened and is to host its first major international tournament this week, drawing great crowds and an exciting atmosphere.
However, the Taipei Dome has made news for issues such as leaks in the roof, incomplete safety reports and a lack of baseball games. Public opinion generally holds that Farglory Group — the company that operates the site — has been indifferent toward the issues, only addressing them after being pressured to do so.
Construction issues aside, the key to the Taipei Dome’s success lies in whether it can adopt a home team, as is the norm for major stadiums globally.
Nearly all baseball stadiums around the world have professional teams based in them, for example the Tokyo Dome, home to the famous Yomiuri Giants, or the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul with the Kiwoom Heroes, and the Rogers Centre, home to Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays.
At its performance evaluation meeting at the end of this year, the Taipei City Government should put securing a professional baseball team to adopt the Taipei Dome as a top priority, with attainment of the goal an indication that the site is operating as it should.
If the city does so, professional matches would naturally become the Taipei Dome’s primary events during baseball season from April to October. To diversify revenue sources, it is completely appropriate to arrange other commercial events during the off-season.
The Tokyo Dome, for example, hosts concerts, professional wrestling, boxing and figure skating outside the baseball season. The Gocheok Sky Dome, in addition to concerts, has also held e-sports competitions and religious events. The Rogers Centre has been rented out for basketball tournaments, Canadian and American football, professional wrestling and other events.
The focus at the Taipei Dome should be operating on a “baseball first” principle. As there are no baseball teams based there, fans created a slogan — “The Taipei Dome is a baseball stadium” — in hopes that those in charge would return to the site’s original purpose and host more baseball events.
Doing this and maximizing use during the off-season would increase the stadium’s utilization and revenue, thereby achieving its goal of sustainable operations.
Then there is the catfish effect: If a professional baseball team were to establish a partnership with Farglory, it could push the conglomerate to handle operational deficiencies, thereby increasing service quality and allowing for more efficient operations.
The priority should be to either secure a professional baseball team for the stadium or to encourage Farglory to establish its own professional team.
Accomplishing one of those tasks would not only improve the Taipei Dome’s reputation, but also make for a great success story.
Charles Yu is a professor and head of National Chung Hsing University’s Graduate Institute of Sports Health and Management.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) concludes his fourth visit to China since leaving office, Taiwan finds itself once again trapped in a familiar cycle of political theater. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma’s participation in the Straits Forum as “dancing with Beijing,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) defends it as an act of constitutional diplomacy. Both sides miss a crucial point: The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world. The disagreement reduces Taiwan’s
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he is addressed in a few ways, but never as a former president. On Sunday, he attended the Straits Forum in Xiamen, not as a former president of Taiwan, but as a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman. There, he met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Presumably, Wang at least would have been aware that Ma had once been president, and yet he did not mention that fact, referring to him only as “Mr Ma Ying-jeou.” Perhaps the apparent oversight was not intended to convey a lack of
RSS