November 13, 2022

With all the fanfare about the Toyama Wind Dancer brand mod, and player shuffling, and managerial who-ha, it was almost an afterthought when the club announced the latest in its efforts to modernize the ballpark it plays in.

“We plan to add a ring of 2,000 seats,” said owner Paul ‘Cheezits’ Walker. “At an expense of $1.4M, I might add.”

The two-thousand seats will be split in two sections of 1,000 each, and will fill in gaps in the right and left-field corners. They are intended to be a bit more raucous than other more family friendly areas. “We needed a place for some of our followers to come and unwind,” said GM Ron Collins. “These will be seats with a great view and considerable comfort.”

This is the fourth season in a row that the club has reconfigured their ballpark, having now added 17,000 seats to the stadium from its earlier days as a standard LRS-fare offering. At 52,000 seats, the Castle would currently stand as the 7th largest stadium in the PEBA. The renovations have cost the club nearly $10M over that span, but Collins said he thought the investment was well worth it. “We want the world to see Toyama as a forward-thinking place, a modern city, and one of the better places to come visit when touring Japan.”

The team drew 3.4M fans last year, and has its sights on as many as 3.8 in 2023, if not more. “Our fans have proven they are the best in Japan before, and, as these new sections show everyone that our goal has always been that our fans will have a great time watching a competitive baseball team,” Collins said. “If we do that, I see no reason we can’t lead the league in attendance before too long.”