Nippon Ham Fighters to move part of spring camp from Nago

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, a Japanese pro baseball team, has decided to shorten the time of its annual February spring training camp in Nago, and relocate the training to another location yet to be determined.

The team has held its training camp at Nago Baseball Field in Nago every February since 1978. According to a person familiar with the matter, it has been 38 years since the construction of the facility, and the training site is getting old.  The team has requested the Nago City to renovate the facilities but the city has not made a decision. And in any case, it could take at least five years to complete the renovation.

Thus, the team decided to relocate its training to another place. The team managers and owners have not decided on a new location yet, but sources say a location somewhere overseas, like Arizona in the U.S. is a possibility.

However, a team spokesman says that they are not going to abandon Nago altogether, and at least the last half of the training camp will be held in Nago.  Team officials say, “It is difficult for our front-line players to train for the next season in the old facility in Nago.  We had to make a decision to relocate the camp to another place as the renovation plan remains unclear.”

15:02 29 Mar , 2024