Historic Jingu Stadium will be vacated for nearly three months for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics after the ballpark's operator and its other regular users agreed in principle to a modified proposal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic organizing committee on Friday.
If the agreement is finalized, Jingu, the 90-year-old home park of Nippon Professional Baseball's Tokyo Yakult Swallows, two prestigious university leagues and Tokyo's summer high school tournament — but a stone's throw from the main venue for the 2020 Summer Games — will be used as a staging area for volunteers and equipment storage in 2020 from July 1 to Sept. 20.
The 2020 organizers originally requested the ballpark be closed for seven months from May, but were asked to shorten that period. In their counter offer, organizers proposed to use Jingu's sub stadium from January to November, and the land where neighboring Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground currently sits. Chichibu, the historic home of Japanese rugby, is set to be demolished before the 2020 Games.