Efforts to popularize baseball in China will be complicated by the strong possibility the two ballparks built to host Olympic baseball will be torn down due to a lack of demand.
Efforts to popularize baseball in China will be complicated by the strong possibility the two ballparks built to host Olympic baseball will be torn down due to a lack of demand.
Built on expensive land in central Beijing, the two ballparks and practice field are part of a larger development that includes the Olympic arena, a shopping mall and a sports/entertainment complex. The demand for the land underneath the ballparks is in demand — but the ballparks are not, despite the baseball games at the Olympics drawing crowds of 12,000.
Jessica Guo, vice general manager of ACRE, the majority owner and developer of the site, says it’s a certainty the ballparks will be torn down to make way for movie theaters, soccer fields or a theme park. That’s not what IOC officials have been told, but Guo is in the best position to know.
Why the impending demolition? No demand. There’s still little indiginous interest in baseball in China despite efforts by Major League Baseball to popularize the sport.
More from AP.
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