It hasn’t even been six months since the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics, and the two new ballparks used for baseball are already in danger of ending up on the wrong end of a wrecking ball. The Wukesong baseball complex in Beijing, including two stadiums and a practice field, are scheduled to be razed this year unless baseball interests come up with a plan to make the facility profitable in the Communist nation.
The venues were built on a 125-acre site slated to become a sports/entertainment complex with 5,000 parking spaces. International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller says he was told by officials of the China Baseball Association that the smaller of the two stadiums would be saved; but vice general manager Jessica Guo of ACRE, the site’s majority owner, says no plan has been forwarded, adding, “The baseball market is not there.”
The main Wukesong Baseball Stadium drew capacity crowds of 12,000 for a pair of exhibition games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres last March, as well as the Olympic Gold Medal game between South Korea and Cuba in August.
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