Early Team Changes and Unstable Management
The early years of NPB saw frequent team births and disappearances. At the launch of the two-league system in 1950, 15 teams existed, but mergers and dissolutions due to financial difficulties reduced the number to 12 by 1958. Team management during this period was often positioned as advertising expenditure for parent companies, with little emphasis on standalone profitability. The practice of incorporating corporate names into team names was designed to maximize parent company publicity, with weak ties to local communities. Many short-lived teams such as the Shochiku Robins, Takahashi Unions, and Tombo Unions disappeared due to parent company business decisions.
Establishment of the Franchise System
The franchise system was introduced in 1952, assigning protected territories to each team. However, the early franchise system was largely nominal, with multiple teams continuing to share the same cities. Tokyo hosted several teams including the Yomiuri, Kokutetsu Swallows, and Toei Flyers, while Osaka was home to Hanshin, Nankai, and Kintetsu. From the 1970s onward, team relocations to regional cities began. The Nippon-Ham Fighters' move from Tokyo to Sapporo in 2004 attracted significant attention as a successful example of community-based management. Using the Sapporo Dome as their home, the Fighters developed all of Hokkaido as their market, dramatically increasing attendance.
Team Sales and Changing Ownership
NPB's history is also a history of team sales. The Nishitetsu Lions changed owners successively to Pacific Club, Crown Lighter, and Seibu, while the Nankai Hawks were sold to Daiei and then SoftBank. During the 2004 restructuring, the Kintetsu Buffaloes were absorbed by Orix, and the Rakuten Eagles entered as a new franchise. Team sales illustrate NPB's structural vulnerability where team survival depends on parent company finances. However, the entry of IT companies like SoftBank and Rakuten brought fresh ideas and financial resources to team management, catalyzing transformation of professional baseball's business model.
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The Era of Community-Based Management
Since the 2000s, NPB teams have made a significant shift toward community-based management. The Fighters' move to Sapporo, Rakuten's entry into Sendai, and SoftBank's success in Fukuoka proved the importance of teams connecting with regional identity. The Hiroshima Carp continues its unique management as a citizen-owned team without a parent company, sustained by strong community bonds. ES CON Field Hokkaido, which opened in 2023, represents the culmination of the ballpark concept, presenting a new form of franchise centered on community development around the stadium. Maintaining the 12-team structure and deepening community ties hold the key to NPB's sustainable development.
Institutional Background of the 12-Team Fixed Structure
Behind NPB's sustained 12-team structure lie two pillars: the protected territory system and the draft system. Existing teams hold veto power over new teams entering their protected territory, and the draft system assumes equal distribution of player supply. The logic that increasing teams would dilute per-team player supply and make maintaining competitive balance difficult has been repeatedly argued at owners' meetings. Additionally, broadcasting rights fees and merchandise revenue distribution structures were designed on a 12-team basis, meaning new entries would reduce existing teams' shares. This institutional inertia is the fundamental cause of the team count remaining fixed for over half a century.
The 2004 League Restructuring and Failed Expansion
The 2004 league restructuring crisis was both the closest NPB came to expansion and an event that exposed its difficulty. When the merger of Kintetsu and Orix was announced, plans for a single-league structure and team reduction emerged, prompting the players' union to execute the first strike in history. Ultimately Rakuten achieved new entry and 12 teams were maintained, but this process showed that 'neither reducing nor increasing teams is easy due to conflicting owner interests.' During Rakuten's entry review, financial stability and regional contribution were strictly scrutinized, while Livedoor, which simultaneously applied, was excluded. This remains a symbolic event illustrating the high barriers to expansion.
Current State of the Expansion Debate and Shizuoka-Okinawa Plans
Questions about the 12-team structure have not disappeared. Plans for new teams in Shizuoka and Okinawa prefectures have repeatedly appeared on local assembly agendas, and surveys showing majority fan support for expansion have been reported. However, realization faces triple barriers: entry guarantee deposits, home stadium development, and securing annual operating costs in the billions of yen. Furthermore, new entry cannot be approved without consent from nine or more of the existing 12 team owners. In a society with declining population, sustainability of attendance is also questioned. Expansion continues to be a theme that demands not merely changing team counts but redesigning NPB's business model itself.