Facilities including Nippon Ham’s new baseball stadium “Escon Field” will open in March. We asked the planners of the new baseball stadium what the aim of the facility, which is full of entertainment elements such as hot springs and beer breweries, was.
On the premises of Nippon Ham’s new baseball stadium “Escon Field”, there is a portrait mural of former Nippon-Ham players Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish (photographed by reporters).
Read other articles in the special feature “Stadium Business Revolution Begins”
In March 2023, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters’ new home ground “Escon Field HOKKIDO” will open as a ballpark “Hokkaido Ballpark F Village”. The concept of the new stadium is “a ball park that the world has not yet seen”.
What is epoch-making and what is the operating company specifically aiming for? We interviewed Satoshi Maezawa, General Manager of Business Management Headquarters of Fighters Sports & Entertainment (FSE), the operating company that planned the new stadium and led it to fruition.
――Escon Field is full of entertainment functions other than baseball, such as a hot spring facility, a brewery (brewery), and a playground for children. What is your aim?
The prosperity of professional baseball in the past was solely due to the large number of players. Around 2010, however, the population began to decline. The number of people aged 0 to 19 is decreasing by about 300,000 each year. Among them, the rate at which the baseball player population is declining is steeper than the decline in population. Unfortunately, the idea of increasing the number of players and revitalizing the baseball world has become a model of the past.
(Editor’s note: According to statistics from the Japan Junior High School Athletic Federation, the number of junior high school rubber baseball club members, which stood at 263,000 in 2012, fell by more than 40% to about 150,000 in 2021. According to the High School Baseball Federation, there were 131,259 senior high school hardball baseball players as of May 2022, down 22% from 10 years ago. population decline of 10% from 2011 to 2021)
Multiple gimmicks that can have a point of contact with baseball
What we’re trying to do is get more people watching baseball. Whether children, adults, or the elderly, we want to increase the number of people who are interested in baseball. Even people who have not been involved in baseball will have a point of contact with baseball. To that end, make the “entrance” as wide as possible. This is the purpose of the new stadium.
The new baseball stadium also has plenty of entertainment facilities other than baseball, such as a brewery (press photo).
――For that reason, you want to include functions unrelated to baseball.
That’s right. First of all, it is a function that allows you to enjoy the uniqueness of Hokkaido. In the F village around the stadium, there are glamping (luxury outdoor camping) facilities, as well as a futuristic farm area that Kubota will invest in and operate. Here you can enjoy Hokkaido’s unique nature and learn cutting-edge agricultural technology.
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