SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The popularity of professional baseball in South Korea is in decline, especially among people in their 20s, the exact demographic that teams are trying to attract, a national poll showed Wednesday. Gallup Korea released results of its survey of 1,004 South Koreans aged 18 or older from March 15-17. [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Namgung Ho-seung hadn’t been to a ball game since May. Back then, all clubs in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) were playing in front of fans, albeit at limited numbers. But once the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic struck in July, gates at stadiums in the greater Seoul [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is reaching out to young baseball fans with metaverse platforms and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The KBO, jointly with the league’s title sponsor Shinhan Bank, plans to introduce collaboration events by setting up metaverse platforms through which baseball fans can enjoy various services online. The [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Former major league All-Star outfielder Choo Shin-soo is coming home. Choo has signed with the new Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club to be owned by Shinsegae Group, the retail giant announced Tuesday. Shinsegae will take over the SK Wyverns from the mobile carrier SK Telecom, with the new club [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The SK Wyverns are far from being the first South Korean baseball club to be sold, but their impending ownership change, from the mobile carrier SK Telecom to the retail giant E-Mart under Shinsegae Group, comes as a surprise for different reasons. SK Telecom is selling the team even [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — One of the gazillion things that the coronavirus pandemic has changed for South Korean baseball clubs is that they aren’t able to travel overseas for spring training this year. For years, Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs have flocked to warm regions in Australia, Taiwan or Japan in late January [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The start of a baseball season is so significant that it is a common noun in the sport’s parlance: Opening Day. It is supposed to be a time of hope and excitement, when every team is tied for first place and no one has lost a game yet. But [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — After clinching their first-ever South Korean baseball championship Tuesday night, the NC Dinos celebrated their victory with … a sword? No, it wasn’t the actual trophy for the Korean Series champions. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) doesn’t hand out swords or any form of replica weapons. You see, the [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean baseball league announced Thursday its postseason participants will play before larger crowds than they did during the regular season, while also unveiling tighter health protocols for both players and fans during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), following talks with the sports ministry [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Virgil Hodges, a longtime fan of the Hanwha Eagles in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), missed watching baseball in person so much this spring that he would stop during his daily runs to see a recreational league game in his neighborhood in Daejeon. He would stay for an inning [...]