A stadium for more than 45,000 fans
Taichung has signed a contract for a NT$60 billion sports and entertainment complex in its Shuinan Economic and Trade Park, with a planned indoor baseball stadium accommodating more than 45,000 spectators. The Taiwan Super Dome is scheduled for completion and opening in 2031, alongside two hotels and a shopping mall.
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The city government announced the agreement with Taiwan Life Insurance on October 16, 2026. It describes the development as Taiwan's largest investment in a single sports venue and says the completed stadium will be the country's largest indoor baseball ground.
Sports Bureau director Yu Chih-hsiang and CTBC Taiwan Dome chairman Wang Cho-chun signed the contract. Taiwan Life is providing the investment, while its subsidiary, CTBC Taiwan Dome, will manage construction. Mayor Lu Shiow-yen said the stadium would become a home ground for the CTBC Brothers, one of the six teams in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League.
The project combines a much larger baseball venue with accommodation, shopping and space for concerts. For fans in central Taiwan, its most immediate promise is a place where major games can continue without rain disrupting play. For Taichung, it is also an attempt to bring more sporting events, performances and visitor spending into the Shuinan district.
What the agreement covers
Taichung's official signing announcement names the venue Taiwan Super Dome, written in Chinese as 台灣超巨蛋. The city says it will accommodate more than 45,000 people and support international baseball, large concerts, arts performances and other events.
The development occupies a site of 16.35 hectares, equivalent to 163,500 square meters. The site was confirmed in August 2025 in western Taichung, within the wider Shuinan development area.
The NT$60 billion figure covers the sports industry park development, which includes commercial and accommodation facilities as well as the stadium. The planned shopping mall will cover about 33,000 square meters, and the two hotels are intended to serve visitors to the complex.
Taiwan Life chairman Hsu Shu-po said professional operators would be sought for the mall. Its proposed mix of sports, leisure and themed brands is intended to give shoppers a reason to choose it over competing retail destinations. He also said construction quality and structural safety would take priority as the team worked toward the completion target.
How the financing works
Taichung is using a build-operate-transfer agreement, commonly shortened to BOT. Under this arrangement, a private investor builds and operates a public infrastructure project for an agreed period before transferring it to the government under the contract's terms. The contract for this development can run for up to 70 years.
The city's Finance Bureau sets out the basic division of responsibilities in its project planning record: the government supplies the land, and the private sector invests in and plans the facilities. The Sports Bureau is the implementing agency, and the site is identified as the Fengda land section in Xitun District.
The record cites Article 8, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1, and Article 46 of Taiwan's Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects, together with related operating rules. These provisions provide the legal route for a private company to propose and participate in the infrastructure project.
Lu said the city chose private investment because its budget was limited. She also argued that the private project could proceed faster because it would not require Taichung City Council supervision. The city government, however, has committed to managing the contract and supervising delivery, including public interests, construction quality and operational requirements.
From early planning to a 2031 target
Taichung began actively planning a large indoor baseball stadium in 2024. The administrative record then traces the proposal through land identification and an initial review before the October 2026 signing.
- 2024: The city began actively planning and promoting a large indoor baseball stadium.
- June 5, 2025: The Finance Bureau published the sports industry park BOT project record.
- August 2025: The 16.35 hectare site was confirmed.
- October 3, 2025: The Finance Bureau last updated its record, listing the project at the initial review stage following a policy announcement.
- October 16, 2026: The city and investment team signed the BOT contract and announced the stadium's name.
- 2031: The complex is targeted for completion and opening.
The Finance Bureau's initial review label belongs to its October 2025 update; the city government's announcement records the later contract signing in October 2026. No construction start date or detailed schedule of intermediate building milestones has been announced.
Detroit Tigers infielder Lee Hao-yu attended the signing alongside CTBC Brothers general manager Peng Cheng-min and other baseball figures. Lee said he hoped to play at the stadium and wanted it completed ahead of schedule. The published target remains 2031.
What changes for baseball in Taichung?
The CTBC Brothers currently play at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, which holds 20,000 spectators. Using 45,000 as the planned dome's comparison figure, the new venue would provide 25,000 additional places, or 2.25 times the current ground's capacity.
Taichung's planning record identifies two practical limits at Intercontinental: its size and its exposure to the weather. An indoor venue would give organizers a more predictable setting for games and spectators a sheltered place to watch them. The city says the two stadiums are intended to complement each other.
Yu, the Sports Bureau director, said the new ground would be planned according to World Baseball Softball Confederation international competition requirements. Those requirements guide the development of a venue suitable for international baseball. The original project plan calls for the confederation's highest level of international competition standards.
The city also says seating will provide unobstructed views. Together, capacity, sightlines and protection from the weather form the practical case for attracting major events. International tournament hosting is an ambition of the project, while the announced domestic role is to provide a home for the Brothers.
How large will the new dome be?
Taipei Dome provides the closest comparison in Taiwan. Its capacity is about 40,000, against the 45,000 figure used for the Taichung project. That would give Taichung at least 5,000 additional seats, a difference of 12.5 percent using those figures.
Lu linked the project to growing enthusiasm for baseball following Taiwan's Premier12 championship and the opening of Taipei Dome in December 2023. Her argument is that central Taiwan needs a major indoor baseball venue of its own rather than relying on the capital's facility.
Taichung is also building a separate venue called Taichung Dome. That project has an expected cost of NT$10 billion, capacity for 15,000 spectators and an anticipated opening in 2030. Taiwan Super Dome's planned capacity is three times that figure, and its NT$60 billion investment is six times as large, although the latter development also includes hotels and retail space.
The two projects therefore have different schedules and scales. Taichung Dome is expected first, in 2030; the larger baseball complex is targeted for the following year. Lu has described the city's shortage of indoor venues accommodating more than 10,000 people as a reason for pursuing major new facilities.
Japanese experience and a wider visitor district
Taichung officials visited Tokyo Dome and ES CON Field Hokkaido while developing the proposal. The project also plans to draw on experience from the team behind the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters' home venue.
Ken Maezawa, president of Fighters Sports & Entertainment, attended the signing ceremony. The Japanese connection brings experience from a baseball venue designed as part of a broader destination, matching Taichung's intention to combine games with hotels, shopping, food and entertainment.
Shuinan's surrounding public developments are central to that plan. The city says the sports industry park will connect with Central Park, the Taichung International Convention Center, the Taichung Green Museumbrary and the Taichung Popular Music and Audio Center.
The proposed connections give the hotels and commercial facilities potential customers beyond baseball crowds. Convention visitors, concert audiences and people visiting nearby cultural facilities could also spend time in the district. Their participation will matter to the operation of a complex intended to remain active between major games.
Transport, concerts and public oversight
The stadium site is about 400 meters from the planned O09 station on Taichung Metro's Orange Line, a walk estimated at six minutes. The station remains a planned transport connection, and no opening date for it has been specified in the project announcements.
Lu said she was confident the Shuinan location would avoid traffic problems. With more than 45,000 spectators potentially arriving for a major event, getting people between the stadium, public transport and surrounding streets will be an important part of its operation.
Concerts and cultural performances would add another source of audiences and revenue. For promoters, the dome would offer a large indoor setting in central Taiwan; for the operator, those bookings would put the venue to use outside the baseball calendar.
The city government has pledged formal oversight of the private development. In a statement setting out its responsibilities, the government said:
In the future, the city government will strictly implement the contract management and supervision mechanism, taking into account public interests, engineering quality and operational needs, and work hand in hand with private enterprises to steadily promote the construction.
The next task is to turn the signed agreement into a completed stadium and functioning visitor district. The 2031 target brings the construction work, commercial operations and promised sporting benefits into a single timetable, with quality and structural safety among the investor's stated priorities.
Key Points
- Taichung signed the Taiwan Super Dome BOT agreement on October 16, 2026, with investment of NT$60 billion.
- The stadium is planned for more than 45,000 spectators and is targeted to open in 2031.
- The 16.35 hectare development will include two hotels and a shopping mall of about 33,000 square meters.
- The CTBC Brothers are expected to use the dome as a home ground, while the venue will also host concerts and cultural events.
- The government supplies the land, private companies invest in the development, and the BOT contract can run for up to 70 years.
- The separate Taichung Dome, with 15,000 seats, is expected to open in 2030.
