IT Company Rakuten May Launch Pro Baseball Club

So, they gave the Orix-Kintestu team dual rights to two areas, Osaka and Hyogo Prefecture. The NPB is bringing this on itself. They need to expand the league, instead of merging the teams, which alienates fans. They need to bring in new teams and allow someone to buy the Buffaloes. The owners need to stop playing around and come up with a real solution.

John Hi,

I think that Mr. Mikitani of Rakuten needs to play hardball and stress this point out to Orix.

Orix more or less is moving to Osaka, by taking over Kintetsu. Now Mr. Koizumi (Orix's owner) in the article said the following:

Hyogo Prefecture was Orix's turf, and Orix solely used Yahoo! BB Stadium.

Mr. Mikitani needs to stress to the press that Orix used the word "was" to explain their relationship with Kobe.

Yes, Hyogo was Orix grounds, now Rakuten wants to be the team in town. Orix should only take over the rights to Kintetsu's region and Hyogo will be open grounds. Having a new team in Kobe will help those in Kobe who will miss the BlueWave.

From a press stand point; this is great as a new on field feud is born. Can you imagine the talk in Kobe on game day when Orix returns to Yahoo! BB Stadium to play the Rakuten Ravens or whatever name they choose?

This has win-win all over it; the owners get their merger, and the players and fans get a new team while keeping Kobe in the league.

However, the past few months have shown us that normal thinking is not part of the current situation.

The bizarre twist in this story is that Orix will be the controlling partner in the merger, and after 3 years of sharing games at Osaka Dome and BB Stadium, the powers that be demand they choose which stadium will be their permanent home. Now, because of the extravagant rent to use the Osaka Dome, it was assumed that the team would eventually choose to settle in Kobe in three years time!

Two teams playing at Yahoo BB? I think there's an ulterior motive to this announcement, and that is to force Orix's hand to abandon the merger and then allow the most logical and sensible conclusion to ensue, sell Kintetsu to a willing buyer.

Thursday (September 16, 2004), Livedoor said they would apply for entry in the NPB through newly formed company Livedoor Baseball, which Horie proposes the team base in Sendai, using Miyagi Stadium as their home stadium until a new one could be built. Horie chose Sendai because of the enthusatic reponse from officials there. The Sendai Municipal Government as well as the prefecture are planning to revise Miyagi Stadium or build a new one for the new team.

Also, Horie said that he would run the team with the fans directly, asking them to own small equity states in the new team. I hope the NPB will wake up and allow Livedoor to enter the NPB, but I sadly don't see it. Like Horie said, "Why not accept the two teams? I think the league can accommodate two or three teams." This is true, the NPB needs some new teams instead of merging teams together which is, as I stated earlier, doing nothing but alienating fans.

[Link1 - Japan Times]
Link2 - Daily Yomiuri]

Rakuten says they will present a proposal to play in the NPB also on Friday. They said they would propose to have their home base in Miyagi Prefecture, too. [Link - Japan Times]