Many people in the Tohoku region would prefer Livedoor Co. over Rakuten Inc. in their ongoing competition to base a new professional ball club in Miyagi Stadium, according to a survey.
But more than half of the 300 people polled by Kyodo News said they do not have a preference as long as a new baseball club is established in the northern Honshu region, which currently does not have any.
The two Internet service firms are vying for approval to use the stadium pending approval by Nippon Professional Baseball, the sport's governing body, to create a new Pacific League team.
Kyodo News polled 50 people each in the six Tohoku prefectures of Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima by telephone over three days to Friday, during which both companies' presidents visited the region to build support for their plans.