Tuesday, December 25, 2012

How much is a Taiwanese baseball team worth?

....Around 4.7 million US dollars or 130 million New Taiwan Dollars.

That's the amount E-United Group decided to pay for the Taichung-based Bulls baseball club after their sponsor the Sinon Corporation put the club up for sale. The Sinon Corporation had been the team's sponsor since 1996.

This is good news for the Chinese Professional Baseball League. There are only four teams left in the league ever since the Chinatrust Whales and Dmedia T-Rex clubs disbanded in 2008. Had the Bulls club completely disbanded this year, the league would have been left with a paltry three teams. Allegations of corruption and game fixing have dogged the league for the past few years. Plus the global economic downturn has not helped the league either. The league is crucial for baseball development in Taiwan, which along with basketball are the two most popular sports on the island. Without the league, players would have to go to Japan.

The other three teams in the league are the Lamigo Monkeys (in Taoyuan), Brother Elephants (in Taipei), and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (in Tainan).

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