Taipei Dome holds first public event

台北大巨蛋舉辦首次公開活動

13,000 watched Taiwan's BFA Asian Baseball Championship team play U-23 Baseball World Cup squad


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After 32 years of planning and construction, the Taipei Dome was open to baseball fans for the first time over the weekend.

Since the public began clamoring for the Taipei Dome in 1991, the facility hosted its first "closed-door test game" on Nov. 14 between Taipei Highwealth and New Taipei Heran. The first open test game was held on Saturday (Nov. 18), when approximately 13,000 spectators were allowed to enter for free to watch Taiwan's national team for the BFA Asian Baseball Championship square off against the national team for the U-23 Baseball World Cup, reported CNA.

Spectators said the facilities and views were "pretty good" and the air-conditioning was also "quite comfortable," according to CNA. Cheer and shout echos were reportedly far greater than what is experienced at Taiwan's outdoor stadiums.

A 65-year-old fan surnamed Lin (林) told UDN that watching a game in the dome is comfortable and "really incomparable to outdoor stadiums," especially considering the frequent rain in northern Taiwan. Lin said he had been anticipating the completion of the Taipei Dome for many years, and on Saturday he arrived at 9 a.m. with his 91-year-old father.

A 64-year-old fan surnamed Chen (陳) said he usually watches baseball games on TV and drove up from Taoyuan to watch the game in person, per UDN. He said that the atmosphere in the dome was good, the venue was clean, and the seats were comfortable.

A fan was cited by TVBS as saying, "It's great. It feels like a foreign country. I'm very excited because I've been waiting for a long time. We were just talking about the differences between it and the Tokyo Dome. I prefer this one in Taipei because it's in my own in Taiwan."

The Asian Baseball Championship is set to begin on Dec. 3. at the dome, which has a capacity of 40,000 people.