Location | Taichung City, Taiwan |
---|---|
Owner | Taichung City Government |
Operator | Taichung City Government |
Capacity | 20,000 |
Field size |
Left Field – 99.1 metres (325 ft) Left-Center – 115.5 metres (379 ft) Center Field – 121.9 metres (400 ft) Right-Center – 115.5 metres (379 ft) Right Field – 99.1 metres (325 ft) |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Broke ground | February 1, 2005 |
Opened | November 9, 2006 |
Construction cost | 600,000,000 NTD |
Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (Chinese: 臺中市洲際棒球場) is a stadium in Beitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. The stadium officially opened on November 9, 2006 replacing the antiquated Taichung Baseball Field. Located on the corner of Chongde Road (崇德路) and Huanzhong Road (環中路), it has considerably more parking available than the old stadium, which will be much more convenient for fans.
The stadium is a venue for rock concerts and also hosted Zhang Yimou's Turandot at the Bird's Nest in 2010.
Construction on the stadium began in 2005 and is operating on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model that is becoming increasingly common among public works projects in Taiwan. The first phase includes 15,000 infield seats, all with seatback chairs. After the second phase was completed in 2008, seating capacity was expanded to 20,000 by adding 5,000 outfield seats.
The first major event hosted by the new stadium was the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, a baseball competition between eight nations from four different continents. South Korea defeated the Philippines in the opener 10–0, followed by Chinese Taipei's defeat against Italy 3–13 on November 9.
On the final day of the 2006 Intercontinental Cup it was announced that the 2007 Baseball World Cup will be held in Taichung, with this stadium one of the two to be used for the tournament. The stadium also hosted some games at the 2007 Asian Baseball Championship, which counted as the 2008 Summer Olympics qualifier for the Asia region.