The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) looks set to start its season on time next year after Kaohsiung-based E-United Group agreed to purchase the struggling Sinon Bulls baseball team for NT$130 million (US$4.67 million) on Thursday.
The two groups are scheduled to sign the contract in Greater Kaohsiung on Tuesday.
E-United Group representative Hsieh Pin-yu (謝秉育) said the group agreed to take over the management of the baseball team because it was advantageous to society as well as to the development of the nation’s professional baseball league.
He said the group would also discuss several issues, including the team’s new name, new mascot and home field, and that they welcomed ideas from fans.
The Bulls are one of the four remaining teams in the CPBL. Sinon Corp, which currently owns the team, announced in October that its board of directors had decided to sell the team, which had posted losses of almost NT$90 million this season.
E-United Group chairman Lin Yi-shou (林義守) expressed the group’s intention to purchase the team in a meeting with government officials and the team’s management last weekend and said more details would be discussed this week.
The deal on Thursday evening was finalized after approximately three hours of negotiation. Aside from Lin and Sinon Group chairman Yang Wen-ping (楊文彬), Minister Without Portfolio and former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) and CPBL president Huang Cheng-tai (黃鎮台) and Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) also attended the meeting.
Local media reported that negotiations were not going well in the beginning as Sinon asked for a price which E-United refused to meet.
Huang said Yang quoted the final price himself and that the two groups agreed to it after further negotiation. The two groups also signed a memorandum of understanding afterward.
The Sinon Bulls were previously known as the Jungo Bears (俊國熊). The name was changed after Sinon Corp bought the team for NT$520 million. During the past 17 years in the CPBL, the Bulls won two championship titles, secured 789 victories and lost 904 games.
The Bulls’ home field is in Greater Taichung and they are the most popular team in central Taiwan. However, the team’s performances had gone downhill in recent years, which in turn caused it to lose a lot of fans.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS