ID :
191435
Tue, 06/28/2011 - 05:21
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/191435
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Suwon offers to back owner of expansion baseball team
The central city of Suwon has thrown its support behind a potential corporate owner of a new baseball team, the nation's top baseball league announced Tuesday.
According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Suwon, located about 45 kilometers south of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, submitted a plan detailing its offer to provide subsidies if a private company steps up to found a baseball team there.
Currently, all eight teams in the KBO are owned and operated by corporations, including major conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, SK and Doosan. A ninth club, owned by the online game company NCsoft, will be based in Changwon, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and will join the KBO by as early as 2013.
The KBO has said it wants to form a 10-team league, which would give it an option for a two-division setting.
Suwon served as the home of the now-defunct Hyundai Unicorns from 2000 to 2007. In its plan, Suwon offered to spend 20 billion won (US$18.4 million) to remodel the existing Suwon Stadium and equip it with skyboxes and a Jumbotron. The city also said the corporate owner will have the naming rights to the stadium.
Aside from Suwon, four cities in North Jeolla Province -- Jeonju, Gunsan, Iksan and Wanju -- have also said they want a baseball club. The provincial government last week offered to subsidize the construction of a new ballpark.
Local governments' funding of baseball-related businesses will likely draw the ire of taxpayers. Civic activists in Changwon have voiced their opposition to the municipal government's plan to shoulder the construction costs for a new, 25,000-seat ballpark.
In Daegu, in the country's southeast region, the home team Samsung Lions will spend 50 billion won of an estimated 150 billion won needed for a new stadium. In Gwangju, in the southwest, the Kia Tigers plan to pay 30 billion won of the 100 billion won costs for their new park.
Baseball has enjoyed unprecedented popularity in recent years, buoyed by the national team's success at the Olympics, the Asian Games and the World Baseball Classic. The league is on pace to break the all-time single season attendance record for the third straight season.
According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Suwon, located about 45 kilometers south of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, submitted a plan detailing its offer to provide subsidies if a private company steps up to found a baseball team there.
Currently, all eight teams in the KBO are owned and operated by corporations, including major conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, SK and Doosan. A ninth club, owned by the online game company NCsoft, will be based in Changwon, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and will join the KBO by as early as 2013.
The KBO has said it wants to form a 10-team league, which would give it an option for a two-division setting.
Suwon served as the home of the now-defunct Hyundai Unicorns from 2000 to 2007. In its plan, Suwon offered to spend 20 billion won (US$18.4 million) to remodel the existing Suwon Stadium and equip it with skyboxes and a Jumbotron. The city also said the corporate owner will have the naming rights to the stadium.
Aside from Suwon, four cities in North Jeolla Province -- Jeonju, Gunsan, Iksan and Wanju -- have also said they want a baseball club. The provincial government last week offered to subsidize the construction of a new ballpark.
Local governments' funding of baseball-related businesses will likely draw the ire of taxpayers. Civic activists in Changwon have voiced their opposition to the municipal government's plan to shoulder the construction costs for a new, 25,000-seat ballpark.
In Daegu, in the country's southeast region, the home team Samsung Lions will spend 50 billion won of an estimated 150 billion won needed for a new stadium. In Gwangju, in the southwest, the Kia Tigers plan to pay 30 billion won of the 100 billion won costs for their new park.
Baseball has enjoyed unprecedented popularity in recent years, buoyed by the national team's success at the Olympics, the Asian Games and the World Baseball Classic. The league is on pace to break the all-time single season attendance record for the third straight season.
