Nippon Professional Baseball decided Saturday to hold games behind closed doors at stadiums affected by the new coronavirus state of emergency through May 11.
The move will come into effect from Tuesday following the decision at an extraordinary session of the NPB's executive committee.
The state of emergency goes into effect on Sunday and will affect Tokyo Dome, Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, Kyocera Dome Osaka and Hyogo Prefecture's Koshien Stadium, the home parks, respectively, of the Yomiuri Giants, Yakult Swallows, Orix Buffaloes and Hanshin Tigers.
A total of 27 games are currently scheduled during the emergency for those parks, although three of the games, on Sunday, will go ahead with fans in attendance due to the short notice. Some of the games may be switched to other venues.
In addition to the four teams who make their homes at those stadiums, the Sapporo-based Nippon Ham Fighters have a home game scheduled for May 11 at Tokyo Dome.
Last year, NPB was able to hold an abridged 120-game season after Opening Day was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic by three months. The season started on June 19 and no fans were admitted into parks until July 10.
