Pacific League President Tadao Koike said Thursday he has scheduled a meeting Friday in Tokyo with Hanshin Tigers President Katsuyoshi Nozaki to discuss moves by many of the Central League baseball clubs to keep the two-league system.
In a bid to seek support from other CL teams to his stance of opposition against a shift to one league, Nozaki will make the rounds visiting with officials from the Yakult Swallows and the Yokohama BayStars, followed by those of the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo on Friday.
Nozaki will also pay a visit to Central League President Hajime Toyokura before meeting Koike in the afternoon at the Pacific League federation office.
"My understanding is that he (Nozaki) will also be coming here. The main thing will be for us to listen to the Central League's opinion on this matter," Koike said.
The PL clubs are also reportedly working to build a unified front before the executive committee of the governing body of pro baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball, meets next Monday to discuss issues linked to the planned merger between the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave.
The owners of the 12 baseball clubs accepted a merger plan between Kintetsu and Orix at a meeting on July 7, but a majority of the CL clubs are opposed to the shift from the two-league system that was created in 1950.