Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, above, will be the second-largest ballpark in Taiwan when the new Taipei Dome officially opens. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images)
Staff Reports
World Baseball Network
More than fifteen years after planning began and a decade after construction finally started, the Taipei Dome, a new 40,000-seat baseball venue in Taipei City, Taiwan, is nearing completion.
The Taipei Dome, also known as the Farglory Dome, is expected to host a test game in November with free tickets available to the public as the venue is given a trial run according to FocusTaiwan, a local English-language media outlet.
If all goes well, it is possible that the new stadium would host games in the upcoming Asian Baseball Championship, which will be held in Taiwan in December.
The new ballpark will be, by far, the largest baseball stadium in Taiwan, with twice the capacity of Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, home of the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s CBTC Brothers, and Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium, home of the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, which each seat 20,000 fans.
The Taipei Dome also holds more than double the capacity of Taipei City’s two existing CPBL ballparks, Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium and Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, the homes of the CPBL’s Fubon Guardians and Wei Chuan Dragons, respectively. Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium seats 12,500, while Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium seats 10,500.
Wang Hung-shiang, the commissioner of the Taipei Department of Sports, told members of the city council of the plan for a test game when asked about thee project’s progress at a recent council meeting.
First conceived nearly two decades ago, construction was delayed until approvals were finally granted in October 2011, and has taken more than a decade after repeated delays and disputes between Farglory Group, a Taiwanese conglomerate that owns hotels and entertainment venues as well as insurance, construction, and other businesses.
The venue is expected to mainly be used for baseball, with the possibility of hosting other sports and events.