A joint press conference was held on the 2nd at Chiba City Hall by the city, Lotte Marines baseball team, and Aeon Mall Co., Ltd., where it was announced that they plan to build a new stadium near ZOZO Marine Stadium, which is aging, and that the new stadium will be a dome-shaped structure.

The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2034. It has also been revealed that the roof will be fixed rather than retractable, and the cost is expected to be about 40 billion yen more than that of conventional outdoor stadiums, bringing the total cost to over 100 billion yen.

Misho Nishikawa outfielder (23), now in his second year with the Lotte Marines after being selected as the No. 1 pick in the 24th draft out of Aoyama Gakuin University, spoke to the press before the game against the Yakult (at Jingu Stadium). “It takes some getting used to (ZOZO) Marine Stadium—the strong winds, the heat, and so on. In a domed stadium, none of that matters, so I think it would make for a great ballpark.“The dome is cool, and the heat feels completely different when you’re playing there. But if you ask me if I dislike playing outdoors, that’s not the case. I hope it becomes a stadium that draws a crowd,” he said, expressing his hopes. If the dome project is realized, it would become the fifth team to have a dome stadium—excluding Rakuten Eagles—Pacific League.

◆Announced future review schedule (tentative)

Consideration of the basic plan from June 2026 onwards.

Around March 2015: Decision on project implementation and formulation of basic plan.

Basic design, etc. after April 2017

Opened around 1934