The China Post
Date: June 17, 2016
By: The China Post news staff
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The EDA Rhinos (義大犀牛), a Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL,
Taiwanese-American National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jeremy Lin (林書豪) throws a ceremonial first pitch at a Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL, 中華職棒) regular match between the Lamigo Monkeys and the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions at the Hsinchu Arena on Thursday, June 16. (CNA)
中華職棒) team, announced Thursday that it will be looking for a new owner, shocking the nation’s sports industry and baseball fans.
The statement came after E-Da Professional Baseball Corp. held an extraordinary board of directors meeting, saying it hopes to see interested enterprises that support baseball bid to buy the team, local media reported.
EDA Rhinos’ general manager Wang Kuei-lin (王癸琳) confirmed the news, but said that if the team does not find a prospective buyer, it would not be disbanded.
Wang noted the poor performance of the team so far in this year’s season — a season with 55 games in total — in which the Rhinos had suffered 10 defeats out of 11 games played in June alone.
The EDA professional team, owned by E-United Group, underwent a self-review of its performance recently. Saying that there was “a large discrepancy between expectations and overall performance,” the team apologized to its fan base and sponsors.
Manpower and material resources have been poured into the team since the purchase by E-United Group at the end of 2012, the statement said, which aimed to fully manage the team’s professional development.
During the sales and transition process, the EDA Rhinos professional team will continue on normally as far as possible, the statement said. This is expected to include the team’s mid-year draft, all-star competition and matches in the second half of the season. [FULL STORY]
