Taiwan’s CPBL To Ease Fan Restrictions From Sunday

CPBL Commissioner Wu Chih-yang

Some of the restrictions in place since Taiwan’s CPBL became the first league in the world to open its baseball season under the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted tomorrow, June 7th.

At a meeting at CPBL headquarters in central Taipei on Friday, it was announced that the officially named Chinese Major League Baseball has recently been working towards fully relaxing restrictions on fan entry.

In order for this to happen, speaking after the the meeting, CPBL Commissioner Wu Chih-yang said that to improve the enjoyment of fans watching the games in Taiwan, the numbers of those permitted entry, as well as the current mask-wearing requirements will both be relaxed.

Mitch Lively, CTBC Brothers pitcher – set to pitch on the final day of restrictions, June 6th

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPBL has followed all Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) advice, and it is understood clubs rather than the CPBL will now be charged with implementing a seating system to maintain proper social distancing at games.

This may in effect reduce fan numbers to 50% of a given stadium’s capacity according to The Taiwan Times sources, but will be a significant increase on those entering from the current limits of 2,000 per game.

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.