JAPAN – Nissan Motor Co. has announced that all of its sports activities including those of its strong baseball team will be suspended amid cuts due to worsening business results.

The company will suspend the activities of two baseball teams, respectively based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Kanda, Fukuoka Prefecture, at the end of this year. The teams have a total of 65 members.

Nissan’s Yokosuka baseball team was founded in 1959. It appeared in the Intercity Baseball Tournament 28 times, winning it in 1984 and 1998. It won the national corporate baseball championships in 2003, and produced many professional Japanese baseball players. The company’s Fukuoka team has also appeared in the Intercity Baseball Tournament.

Nissan had previously continued the activities of its baseball teams even during a management crisis in the latter half of the 1990s, and the teams have fostered a sense of unity among employees. However, as Nissan expects a net deficit for the financial year ending in March and personnel cuts are being implemented, the company decided to suspend sporting activities.

Tags: Japan