Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday.
The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said.
The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said.
Photo: Huang Chun-hsuan, Taipei Times
In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees to replay game footage to make calls, he said.
A lack of familiarity with the game by Farglory Group — builder and operator of the Taipei Dome — has caused many problems, including buggy audio, water leaks and being too slow with fixes, Tsai said.
“Taipei and Farglory should see their role as serving the fans,” he added.
Taiwan’s next dome, if any, should be located in the nation’s central or southern region, have good transportation options and be properly temperature controlled, Tsai said, adding that a good stadium is not necessarily big.
“I would encourage local government heads to pay close attention to the traffic around potential stadium sites and work closely with sports teams to understand the sport’s technical requirements,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tsai said the league is trying to display objects linked to Taiwan’s victory at this year’s World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 games, but the efforts are complicated by the lack of a museum dedicated to the sport.
The government and league representatives are working together to find a venue for an exhibition, he said, adding that the incident has shown the pressing need for a national baseball museum.
The ideal location for the museum would be the Taipei Dome, due to its iconic status and location in the capital, depending on Farglory Group’s willingness to cooperate, he said.
All the league asks of Farglory Group is to set aside space in the dome for museum displays and gift stores. The league could then make the rest of the arrangements on its own, he said.
The proposal could give Farglory a windfall in profits at very little risk, as a museum would draw crowds to the dome on off-game days, Tsai said.
A museum increases a sport’s grassroots reach, grows the fan base and provides education as well as entertainment, he said.
“We are not opposed to setting up a museum in an alternate location, but I believe the Taipei Dome is the best place for it, as it is so close to restaurants and shopping centers,” Tsai said.
“I will be more than happy to work with Farglory if they are willing,” he added.
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