A group has been formed to promote a plan to create a baseball team in Niigata as moves toward expanding professional baseball are spreading slowly in Japan.
Hiroshi Ikeda, president of professional soccer club Albirex Niigata who heads the group, said Tuesday he and his partners were preparing to file an application in 2007 with the aim to join the pro leagues in 2008.
The team would be named the Niigata Albirex and use a new stadium due to be completed in Niigata in 2008 as its home field, Ikeda said.
Ikeda also said the team's start-up capital of 1 billion yen would be raised from local business corporations based in Niigata Prefecture as well as individual investors.