Taipei City Government is likely to open its Tienmu Baseball Stadium (
The city government is set to host a meeting to look into a variety of potential difficulties tomorrow and will come up with its final decision soon, local media have reported.
At the moment, the four Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL, 中華職棒聯盟) teams are not allowed to compete at the nation's showcase stadium in Tienmu because of residents' protests over noise and traffic.
The CPBL season began on March 8.
After a series of public hearings, however, Taipei's Bureau of Education -- supervisor of the stadium -- has softened its stance and is studying the feasibility of opening the 10,000-seat stadium to professional games.
According to local media, deputy secretary general of the city government Liu Pao-kuei (劉寶貴) will have a meeting tomorrow with representatives from the education bureau, the Bureau of Transportation, the Bureau of Environmental Protection, local police stations and administrative district offices in order to gather opinions from all sides.
Meanwhile, the city government will form a supervisory mechanism to deal with the problems that may occur once the stadium is opened.
The NT$1 billion stadium was built in 2000, but has hardly been used because nearby residents were against professional teams playing there.
When Taipei City won the bid to host the 34th Baseball World Cup, the stadium was chosen as the main venue for the major events because the facilities are among the best in Taiwan.
In past years, the two professional baseball leagues in Taiwan have tried to persuade the city government to allow professional games to be played in Tienmu, but have not been able to overcome strong resistance from local residents.
With the success of the World Cup series last year, baseball fans have teamed up with the professional baseball leagues and urged the city government to come to an understanding with the residents in Tienmu.
During the past two months, the city government has sponsored a series of public hearings on the matter.
An increasing numbers of baseball fans have joined the "Open Tienmu Stadium" campaign and the pressure has begun to tell as residents' resistance to the idea has eroded.
The first match of the new baseball season -- which follows on the heels of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) declared "year of the baseball" -- was scheduled to be played at Tienmu last Friday.
It was instead played in Hsichuang City, where the Brother Elephants beat the Uni-President Lions; and in Chiayi, where the Sinon Bulls beat the ChinaTrust Whales 5-3.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS