Life In 19x19

I was just wondering this: how come Japan doesn't have a team league like the Korean Baduk League and Chinese A League? I think it would be beneficial to introduce a league in place of some tournaments. For example, Japan has four hayago tournaments. You could easily replace two of them (Ryusei, NEC Cup) without anybody really missing anything (though I think the format of the Ryusei is cool).

What I see with the KBL and CAL is that A) it generates a lot of revenue, especially in the KBL's case where it is broadcast and marketed much the same way that soccer and baseball are, and B) a lot of new professionals or low-dans get to play with the Lee Sedol's and Gu Li's of the world. Japan has always tried to bridge the gap between the 1 dan and 9 dan professionals and I think this could help the process.

What do you think?

There simply is not enough interest from fans and sponsors. The existing presentation and coverage of Go has inexorably declined over the thirty years that I have lived in Japan. The best example was the the Haya Go Championship sponsored by Tokyo Television (old channel 12). Over the years it was scheduled earlier and earlier on Sunday mornings and fitted into a shorter and shorter format. In the end it was a 10-second per play fast game at 06:00 Sunday morning. This was not on-line but rather IRL over-the-board play at 10-seconds per play. It was painful to watch. Finally it was canceled about five years ago when Japan Airlines dropped out as sponsor. I can not imagine sponsors arising for a league.