10 billion deficits, fans leaving? It’s never easy to wander around LG-Doosan for six years

On the 18th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a plan to build Jamsil Dome Stadium (tentative name). The main goal is to tear down the baseball stadium in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, and build a closed new dome stadium on the spot. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the stadium will be built with more than 30,000 seats that can host international games, and additional facilities such as hotels and restaurants will be provided together. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon recently visited and inspected the Rogers Centre, the home stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays, a major league baseball team located in Toronto, Canada. The site of the current sports complex, including the convention center, will be reborn as a complex cultural center, and there is a new dome stadium at the center. 토토사이트

However, in order for the construction to proceed smoothly, the LG Twins and Doosan Bears, which currently use the general stadium as their home stadiums, must vacate the stadium from the 2026 season. The two teams are in a situation where they have to play games outside of Jamsil Baseball Stadium for a total of six seasons from the 2026 to 2031.

Six years in the operation of professional teams, and six years is a tremendous long time for a baseball team whose seasons are virtually the entire three seasons of spring, summer and autumn. It is a period when the overall direction and framework of the team’s operation can be changed several times. However, moving is an inevitable fate in the reality of having to use a rental stadium.

It is known that the Seoul Metropolitan Government, KBO, LG and Doosan have been discussing the relocation of new stadiums and the use of temporary stadiums. Clubs hope to remodel Jamsil Main Stadium, which is currently located right next to the baseball stadium, and use it as a temporary stadium, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government is reluctant to use the stadium as a whole, citing crowd safety concerns. Therefore, LG and Doosan are considering temporarily using other stadiums located in the metropolitan area together, such as Gocheok Sky Dome, Mokdong Baseball Stadium, Suwon KT Wiz Park, and Incheon SSG Landers Field.

However, all of the options that are emerging as alternatives are bound to face realistic problems. Gocheok Dome is already leased and used by Kiwoom Heroes. In reality, only one of the two teams, LG and Doosan, is expected to be available for additional use. Then another team has to find another stadium, which has too poor facilities and stadium conditions. It is still used only as an amateur stadium, which is its original purpose, and is not suitable for night games due to noise problems that were a problem when the Heroes used it as their home stadium in the past. Given the degree of backwardness, it is possible for professional clubs to undergo extensive remodeling to use it. Suwon or Incheon Stadium can also be used, but no matter how close the two teams are currently based in Seoul, LG and Doosan, it can be a burden to get far from home.

It is practically not easy to visit areas far from their existing residences unless they are fans with great enthusiasm. Moreover, six years is a very long time. Except for enthusiastic loyal fans, cracks may occur in the existing fan base itself.

Profit problems must also be taken into account. The current annual budget and income of the two teams that jointly use Jamsil Stadium are both calculated in line with the past average of their home stadiums. If you temporarily use a stadium that is less than Jamsil, or a stadium that needs to be moved far, your profits will naturally decrease significantly. One-year losses can easily exceed billions or 10 billion won. Converting this into a six-year cumulative value makes the loss tremendously large.

But that doesn’t mean there’s an alternative other than these stadiums. Gocheok Dome is stigmatized as a “half-dome stadium,” and there are 0 other stadiums in Seoul that deserve professional baseball teams to play games. KBO, LG, and Doosan are in a position to continue consultations with the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The most ideal way is to remodel Jamsil Main Stadium, but whether the answer can be found in the safety issue, which is pointed out as a negative factor. In addition, it is necessary to find an agreement on how much remodeling is possible. It’s still a long way to go, but it’s still a long way to go.