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The story
It was reported that the Sapporo Chamber of Commerce and Industry has asked Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto to bring official first-team professional baseball games to Premist Dome (formerly Sapporo Dome), and the news drew a wave of reactions on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board. Ever since the Nippon-Ham Fighters relocated their home base to Es Con Field Hokkaido in 2023, the dome’s falling utilization rate has been a headache, and the Chamber of Commerce appears to be banking on an economic boost. In Japanese pro baseball, though, it’s notoriously hard for another team to hold official games in a rival team’s home territory without that team’s consent — making the Fighters’ stance the deciding factor. On the board, skepticism about the plan’s feasibility ran high, with posters slamming the dome’s artificial turf and rock-hard flooring, and others suggesting it’d be better used as Consadole Sapporo’s home ground.
HTB Hokkaido News
September 24
2026
Source: youtu.be / Original article here
What people said
Turf's paper-thin
Players hate the place
Absolutely fuming
It's not like the place is turning a profit thanks to the Fighters
And it'd be pretty low to swoop in and use the facility Consadole built up
So why aren't they demanding more tax-league games instead lol ("tax league" = derisive nickname for the J-League, implying it survives on subsidies)
And this is a team owned by a food company
So the team they're actually trying to lure in is probably the Giants or some other Central League club
If it were a Pacific League team they'd be even more livid
Every Pacific League team has already said they're worried about injuries at Sapporo Dome
There's zero chance they'd use it
First I'm hearing of this lol
How much did it finally go for
250 million yen a year
So they're going to squeeze Sapporo taxpayers to cover the cost?
You buy an expensive ticket thinking it's the decisive final game, it gets rained out, and the makeup game ends up being a meaningless throwaway match later
Seriously, give me a break
Makes no sense
"The tax league alone isn't cutting it — no crowds, no spending"
Isn't running a deficit fine as long as taxes cover it?
Honestly, putting soccer in a dome stadium seems more and more viable going forward
Outdoor sports are only going to keep fighting the weather
The J-League spin: "Consadole built a dome stadium in Sapporo"
Though I don't know if any team would actually bother going that far just to play in Hokkaido
Well, for starters nothing happens without Nippon-Ham's permission
And when the choice is between a stadium nicknamed "Death-poro Dome" — flimsy artificial turf laid straight on concrete, hated by managers and players alike — and Es Con Field, the answer's already obvious, whether you ask the players or the fans
Though I guess if they threw hundreds of millions of yen at luring a few games, it's not totally impossible
Now it's weekday day games in Asahikawa and Maruyama
Once interleague play started, it became "why not just use interleague games for that instead?"
Can't be helped
The farm team tours those cities instead, right?
Background and Key Points of This Story
In Japanese professional baseball, there’s an unwritten rule that another team can’t easily hold official games in a rival team’s home region without that team’s consent — meaning any push to add more NPB games in Hokkaido effectively hinges on the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ willingness. The Fighters moved their home base to Es Con Field Hokkaido in 2023, and since then the falling utilization of their former home, Sapporo Dome (now Premist Dome), has become an ongoing problem. The dome has a history of poor reviews from players and managers alike over its thin artificial turf and hard flooring, and on the message board many posters questioned how realistic this bid really is, pointing to exactly those facility issues. At the same time, other angles came up too — using the venue as Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo’s home ground, and the dome’s naming-rights income — giving the request a backdrop tied to stadium-management issues on both the baseball and soccer side.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Sapporo Dome] Sapporo Chamber of Commerce and Industry Asks Mayor Akimoto to Bring Official First-Team Pro Baseball Games to Premist Dome.”
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