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I visited ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba Prefecture while on a business trip to Japan.
This is the home of the Chiba Lotte Marines, but of course the day I visited it was a second-team home game rather than a first-team match. Surprisingly, that made an even stronger impression. Even for a second-team game, the home-game events were fully in operation — fan cams, ribbon boards, circleline lighting, and a DJ performance — and the F&B stalls and ticket booths were operating normally as usual.
ZOZO Marine Stadium — Turning Wind Into a Story
ZOZO Marine Stadium opened in 1990 and seats around 30,000, located right on the Tokyo Bay shoreline.
This stadium is famous for a particular reason: the sea breeze is so strong that it’s known as a pitcher-friendly park. When I went, I saw that they turned that very wind to their advantage by creating a special outfield seating area called the Home Run Lagoon, and they even designed the outfield concrete wall separately to account for the wind. In other words, they turned a perceived weakness — the local environmental characteristic — into a storytelling asset for the ballpark.
Seating Products Renewed a Little Every Year
The seating layout was also highly segmented. In the infield there are Submarine Seats, Dugout Boxes, and Field Wing Counter Seats, while the outfield has the Home Run Lagoon and Legacy Seats. In particular, the Field Wing Counter Seats are being continuously renewed across 2025–2026 by adding island seats and cushion seats; I was impressed that they don’t just install something once and leave it, but update seating products little by little every year.
The light towers have also been replaced with LED circleline lighting instead of the old-style towers, reducing glare for both players and spectators while allowing dynamic lighting changes to match the game presentation.
Gate Names — Weaving In the Parent Company’s Brand
The most fun detail was the gate names. Each stadium entrance was named after one of Lotte’s snack and ice-cream brands, and the one I went through was the COOLish Gate. It’s a clever way to blend the parent company’s brands naturally into the stadium flow, making it feel friendly while also making it easier for visitors to remember and find their designated gate. It may seem small, but it struck me as a smart way to connect the parent company and the team.
The Our History Wall — Club History Along the Concourse
Along the circulation walls that spectators walk past was an Our History wall outlining the team’s history. They listed major moments year by year going back to the Lotte Orions era, and I liked that even without flashy scoreboards or big screens, fans naturally encounter the club’s history as they pass by.
Closing Thoughts — The Difference Operating Attitude Makes
What left the strongest impression was the operational attitude more than the scale of any individual facility. Whether it’s the first or second team, they maintain the same fundamentals in how they treat fans, renew seats a bit each year, and even weave the parent company’s brand into something as simple as a gate name. I felt there are many elements that domestic stadiums could apply right away without major remodeling — and especially the habit of continuously refining seats and circulation during the season is something we should definitely learn from.
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