The Orix-Kintetsu Merger - The Story of the 2004 NPB Realignment 

Sadly that "big rivalry" was Buffaloes vs Braves/BlueWave. I guess you could say the Buffaloes and Eagles don't like each other too much, especially with the way Isobe and Iwakuma decided they'd rather go there, but the Buffaloes have been so generally terrible that its hard for anything organic to work. I guess you could say Lions/Hawks got heated again after like 40 years of dormancy but still, its not the same now that they missed the playoffs.

Yeah but thats the same for a lot of companies, I mean, look at Daiei for example.

I read that Hankyu's board went through a shift and the new members didn't like that the team was losing money, and I've also read that Hankyu was $80 million in debt at the time and selling the team would've covered it. In the end, the team would've eventually been sold regardless, especially now that Hanshin owns Hankyu

@@GaijinBaseball Technically it’s the opposite, Hankyu bought all of Hanshin stocks to complete the merger in 2006

Competing with Hanshin in the Kansai region was always a rough situation. Nankai was understandably the first to go out as Nankai Railways essentially only has parts of southern Osaka and Wakayama in its area. Hankyu played in Nishinomiya of all places right near Koshien, it had absolutely no way of getting out of its shadow, much like the Clippers in LA against the Lakers. The Tigers just have too much synergy with the Osakan culture. Pacific League was no where near its popularity today, and Hankyu didn't have the political and financial muscle that Seibu group had in order to artificially lift its popularity.

@@uchikoshi-TL The Lions also have the benefit of historically being really fucking good under their management, only finishing last in the PL twice since Seibu bought them and moved them to Tokorozawa (1979, 2021) which helps their popularity in the greater Tokyo market. If I had to guess they're probably the top two of most popular PL teams right now between them and the Hawks considering both are historically good teams as of late and have played or are playing in unsaturated markets (both have played in Fukuoka).

​@@ringo3911 Then-owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, once the richest man in the world, didn't joke around when it came to big projects. When Tsutsumi bought the team, he immediately tried to make them profitable by bringing in stars Katsuya Nomura and Koichi Tabuchi, and attempted to draft Egawa and have Giants legend Tetsuharu Kawakami become the CEO. ex-Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda backed him up, and while Tokorozawa is so far from Tokyo, he managed to gain fans by having a TV program promoting the Lions on TBS. Combined with a new stadium, they were up 75% in ticket sales to the year despite completely relocating. He also founded the Prince Hotel industrial league team, which served as a loop hole to get coveted players outside of the draft (prior to the 90s, UDFA existed in the NPB. Lions shocked the NPB when they announced that the Fighters and Braves 1st round picks will sign with Prince Hotel instead in 1980). Rikuo Nemoto was such a crucial figure in the management that you praised; He created the juggernaut that was the Lions of the 80s. He made the foundation as the manager, then brought in his former colleague at Hiroshima, Tatsuro Hirooka as the new manager, and when he left, he told Tsutsumi that Hirooka's replacement should be someone who knows the team well enough, and can take the team to the next level (versus a popular manager), which ended up being Masaaki Mori. You brought up Fukuoka as the point, but Hawks, while being a storied franchise, was struggling mightily as they never finished above 4th since 1978. Nemoto would join the ailing Daiei Hawks in 1993 as GM and manager, and would bring in Sadaharu Oh, and later Kenji Johjima (who had already decided to attend Komazawa Uni.) as well as Hiromichi Ishige (who was rumored to become Lions manager that season) and Lions ace Kimiyasu Kudo in free agency. He set up the franchise for success, but passed away 3 months before the Hawks won their first pennant since moving to Fukuoka.

From what I seen, before Masataka Yoshida, Kyocera Dome is pretty much empty or filled with visiting team fans, especially if Hanshin Tigers the visitors. After Yoshida, I think there's a slight increase of interest among Osakan about the Buffaloes. But my friend still said that Kyocera Dome tickets are pretty cheap, and yet the Dome still 3/4 empty in weekdays

Some in Osaka have come around on the team, Kobe too, but they were good this year so we'll see how sustainable that is. There was one dude sitting right behind Home Plate in a full Kintetsu uniform in either Game 1 or Game 2 of the Japan Series this year, so there's that

@@GaijinBaseball I see. BTW thank you for the great videos. Love learning about the history of NPB.

@@derkaiserzen Yup, the Tigers remains as Osaka’s 1st choice when it comes to “Name the team that represents you, Tigers or Buffaloes?”…

​@@derkaiserzenit also doesn't help that Kyocera Dome is the Tigers home during the Spring and Summer High School baseball tournaments.

Sir that's a Bluewave title