Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi significant event 2013 Japan Series
Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi (楽天モバイルパーク宮城, Rakuten Mobairu Pāku Miyagi), officially Miyagi Baseball Stadium, is a baseball stadium in Miyaginohara Sports Park in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The 30,508-seat park is owned by the prefecture and operated by Rakuten, which has used it as the home field for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) since 2005. Its symmetrical playing surface is the only natural turf field in the Pacific League (PL). An amusement park, Smile Glico Park, is integrated into the stadium's left field seating and features a Ferris wheel.
Miyagi Stadium is the third-oldest NPB stadium and the oldest in the PL. It was built in 1950 to host countryside NPB games and amateur baseball. Lights were added in 1973 for night games and to attract more professional games. The Lotte Orions began using it as a semi-home that same year and played five seasons the until 1977. In 1974, the Orions brought the stadium its first postseason games, however Japan Series games were not held in the stadium due to its relatively low capacity. Following Lotte's departure, the park again hosted yearly NPB countryside games and the first of four All-Star games was held there in 1992.
After the 2004 NPB realignment, Rakuten created a new NPB team to be based in Sendai and renovated Miyagi Stadium in several phases. With Major League Baseball stadiums as inspiration, the field was enlarged, the stadium's concourses were expanded, seating was updated, and its capacity was increased. In the outfield, two full-LED video boards were erected and the amusement park was built. The exterior was also significantly updated. The stadium hosted its first Climax Series and Japan Series in 2013, when the Eagles went on to win the championship.
Naming rights for the stadium have been sold in three-year increments several times since 2005. Staffing firm Fullcast and Nippon Paper Industries were the first two companies to buy them. Since 2014, Rakuten has purchased the stadium's naming rights, using it to promote their Kobo eReader, life insurance and mobile carrier. The stadium has been named Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi since 2023.Dedicated Rakuten home
During the 2004 NPB realignment, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes merged with the Orix BlueWave, leaving the PL with five teams instead of six for the 2005 season In the wake of the loss, two Internet service companies, Rakuten and Livedoor, applied to start new teams, however NPB representatives maintained that the 2006 season would be the earliest a new team could enter the league. The players wanted any new teams ready for the next season and when no agreement was reached the players staged a two-day strike on September 18–19. With the strike set to continue the following weekend, team representatives eased the rules of entry for new teams into the professional leagues and that one would be allowed to join the following season. Both Rakuten and Livedoor's team plans included basing the team out of Miyagi Stadium in Sendai. On November 2, NPB selected Rakuten over Livedoor to create a new Pacific League team to be based in Sendai. After being chosen, Miyagi Prefecture and Rakuten agreed on lease agreement that would allow the team to play in the prefecture's stadium for a modest ¥50 million per year. Furthermore, the team was allowed to manage the facility, giving them access to all revenue collected from the sale of all advertising, goods, and concessions within Miyagi Stadium. In exchange, Rakuten agreed to pay for the costs of renovating the stadium.After moving to Sendai, Rakuten renovated Miyagi Stadium in several phases, drastically changing and modernizing the ballpark. In 2007, for the first time in fifteen years and  since becoming the permanent home of an NPB team, a game in the All-Star Series was played at the stadium. Two seasons later, it hosted its first Climax Series when the Eagles qualified for the 2009 postseason for the first time. Two weeks before the start of the 2011 season, the Tōhoku region was struck by the largest earthquake in Japan's history. The quake and the subsequent tsunami devastated the region, including the city of Sendai. Following the event, 47 areas of Miyagi Stadium were identified as needing repairs, with its lighting towers sustaining the most damage. While the stadium was being repaired, the Eagles played their home games at Koshien Stadium and Hotto Motto Field. Baseball returned to Sendai on April 29, when the Eagles played their first game at their home field. An opening ceremony attended by the governor of Miyagi Prefecture Yoshihiro Murai and United States Ambassador John Roos was held before the game. After the disaster, NPB decided to move the final game of the 2011 All-Star Series from Tokyo Dome to Kleenex Stadium, the second time the Eagles hosted the event in four years.The Eagles clinched their first Pacific League title in 2013, making Miyagi Stadium the host of the Final Stage of the Climax Series for the first time and setting up the possibility of holding its first Japan Series games. In preparation for these games, Rakuten spent ¥100 million adding temporary seating to the park to increase its seating capacity for the events. Rakuten won the 2013 Climax Series, allowing Miyagi Stadium to host its first ever Japan Series, which the Eagles went on to win. The temporary stands were eventually dismantled and replaced with permanent seating options. The 2013 Japan Series was the last time the stadium hosted a postseason game, however it was again hosted an All-Star game in 2021, its fourth time.Capacity
From its completion in 1950 until Rakuten began renovating the facility in 2004, Miyagi Stadium accommodated approximately 28,000 people. This relatively low capacity factored into the decision to not play the 1974 Japan Series in the Stadium. Initially, Rakuten's announced renovation design revealed that the ballpark's seating capacity was planned to be 23,000 by the start of the 2005 season and 28,000 by the following spring. After the two-stage renovation, however, its seating capacity was only 20,000 and 23,000, respectively. Almost yearly redevelopment caused the number to continually change. It was reduced to 22,187 in 2008 and 22,098 in 2009, but expanded to 23,026 in 2010. By the start of 2013, capacity was increased to 23,451 and again to 23,466 by April. Rakuten was cautious about rapidly expanding the stands because of the stadium's location in a public park and Sendai's population of approximately 1 million people, a relatively small market for a baseball franchise in Japan. Furthermore, the stadium is located in a public park subject Japan's City Park Law, an ordinance dictating how much park space can be occupied by buildings, making it difficult to freely expand the facility.After the Eagles advanced to the Second Stage of the 2009 Climax Series, NPB became concerned about Miyagi Stadium's low seating capacity. Compared to the other stadiums in NPB that all held at least 30,000 people, Rakuten's approximate capacity of 22,000 was significantly lower. Though they were eliminated in the Second Stage, if Rakuten had won and advanced to the Japan Series, NPB claimed that there would have been a ¥100 million profit difference per game held at Miyagi Stadium compared to the Sapporo Dome. This loss of profit would have not only affected Rakuten, but also the Central League team they played and NPB, as proceeds from Japan Series attendance are split among the three parties. NPB's concern led to some speculation that if the Eagles ever advanced to a Japan Series, the games would not be held in Miyagi Stadium. Instead of increasing Miyagi Stadium's seating capacity, Rakuten suggested that they could increase ticket prices to make up the difference. Team owners and NPB, however, requested that they increase capacity to at least 28,000, citing Rakuten's original pledge to do so when they were first awarded a team.
Mid-season in 2013, the Eagles were in first place in the Pacific League and selling out games played at Miyagi Stadium. To help meet fan demand, Rakuten erected two temporary seating sections in the ballpark. The resulting 936-seat section along the third-base line and the 1,249-seat section on the left field lawn increased Miyagi's capacity from 23,466 to 25,651. The seats opened to fans that September. However, NPB had been pushing Rakuten to increase the stadium's capacity to at least 28,000, specifically if the stadium needed to host Japan Series games, therefore Rakuten continued to add more temporary seating in early October as the postseason neared. Before it hosted its first Final Stage during the 2013 Climax Series, more temporary and standing seats brought the stadium's capacity to 26,965. Finally, the addition of 1,155 standing seats before the 2013 Japan Series brought Miyagi Stadium's capacity to 28,120.Following the Japan Series, the temporary stands down the third-base line and in left field were dismantled. In the offseason, another temporary seating section was constructed in left field, bringing capacity to 25,717. Five months later, work was completed on new, permanent seating in the former location of the temporary stands down the third-base line. The 3,019-seat section pushed the stadium's capacity over 28,000 once again. The last large-scale renovation of Miyagi Stadium occurred in the 2015–16 offseason that dramatically increased its capacity one last time. The project removed the temporary stands in middle-left field that could seat approximately 4,000 spectators and instead constructed a park capable of accommodating around 7,000, bringing Rakuten Seimei Park to its current capacity of 30,502 people.