The Daiei Hawks have been fined 30 million yen following the Pacific League champions' failure to guarantee the availability of their Fukuoka Dome stadium for the recently concluded Japan Series, Japanese baseball officials said Monday.
The Hawks will donate the fine, the largest ever imposed on a team in the history of Japanese pro baseball, to youth programs and other organizations for the promotion of sports, Daiei officials said.
Daiei, in an unprecedented move, was forced to change the format of the last month's Japan Series -- which it eventually lost 4-2 to the Yomiuri Giants -- in order to accommodate a medical convention booked at the Fukuoka Dome three years ago.