The Baseball stadium in Beijing is the first Olympic venue to see the wrecking ball. The 15.000-seat Wukesong Sports Center will be dismantled and replaced by a shopping mall. The organizers had listed the ballpark as a temporary venue before the Olympics, but Major League Baseball officials hoped to preserve it for the future development of the sport in China.
Jinjiao Guo, deputy manager of the development company: “It could only be guaranteed if there were enough activities to attract people to the venue. We absolutely could not accept any suggestion of (keeping the field) to be used only once or twice a year.”
The $29 million stadium not only played host to the Baseball tournament at the Olympics, but also to a two-game exhibition series between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers in March 2008. The Chinese Baseball League also couldn’t afford to save the ballpark.
MLB spokesman Michael Marrone: “Obviously it’s a shame. You would prefer to have it kept as a relic of the Olympic Games and to help baseball culture to further develop here.”