Chinese Taipei Baseball Association Announces New Semipro Summer 'Popcorn League'

The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association "announced the creation of a new semi-professional summer baseball league named the Popcorn League," according to Paul Huang of the TAIPEI TIMES. Top amateur teams Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Topco Scientific, Veetime, National Sports Training Center and Chii Lih Coral of Taitung are to "take part in the inaugural season for reportedly 150 games that will run from late next month to early September." In addition to the CTBA, the main sponsor of the league will be local sports broadcaster Videoland Sports, "which recently lost the bid" to carry Chinese Professional Baseball League games on its local cable network "for the first time in 18 years." The move by Videoland Sports is "undoubtedly a way for the broadcaster to keep its foothold in the business, with other broadcasters, such as Fox Sports Network and to a lesser extent, Formosa Television, aggressively looking to expand their market share" (TAIPEI TIMES, 4/10).