Japan's NPB to open season on 19 June, stadiums will be closed to the public

The decision came after a virtual meeting between NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito and representatives of the 12 teams

The second-biggest sports league in the world by annual attendance, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), announced that its 2020 regular season will start behind closed doors on Friday, 19 June. The decision came after an online meeting between NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito and representatives of the league's 12 teams on Monday, 25 May.

The Japanese Government lifted the State of Emergency in Osaka and two other western prefectures on Thursday, 21 May. It then lifted the State of Emergency in Tokyo, its surrounding regions and the northern island of Hokkaido on Monday, 25 May.

As soon as the Emergency State was lifted in Osaka, the Orix Buffaloes played an intra-squad game in an empty Kyocera Dome. The Japan Times reports that the Buffaloes allowed reporters into the stadium on Monday, though they were still restricted from the playing field and dugout, and required to wear face masks and to undergo temperature checks at the entrance.

NPB announced that practice games will be scheduled between 2 and 14 June.

Each team will play a 120-game regular season. The schedules will be announced at a later date.

In 2019, NPB -- a WBSC Associate Member -- registered a record-breaking year with a total of 26,536,962 paying spectators over 858 games (not including the post-season), which put NPB ahead of the NBA, NHL, NFL, and all soccer (football) leagues, and only behind Major League Baseball.

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