Seoul City finally announced that it will build a 30,000-seat dome stadium in Jamsil. This is something that baseball people and baseball fans will be happy about.먹튀검증
However, as I looked at the plan, something puzzling arose. After the 2025 season ends, the Doosan Bears and LG Twins will have to stay afloat for six years until the dome stadium is completed. It’s been a whopping 6 years.
It is said that baseball can be played again at Jamsil Dome Stadium starting in 2032.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon watched the Toronto Blue Jays game at the Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada on the 16th local time and announced that he would build a state-of-the-art sports and exhibition convention facility, including a dome stadium, in the Jamsil Stadium area.
Jamsil Dome Stadium, which will be the second stadium built in Korea following Gocheok Sky Dome, is scheduled to be built with a capacity of 30,000 seats. The plan is to build it in conjunction with a hotel to make it possible to watch baseball not only in guest rooms, but also in restaurants and swimming pools. After the KBO league ends in 2025, the baseball stadium will be demolished and construction will begin, opening in 2032.
The cost will be around 500 billion won, and the project will be handled by Seoul Smart MySpark (tentative name, lead manager Hanwha), the preferred negotiating party. As a private investment project, the Hanwha consortium will bear the full cost and have operating rights for 40 years.
Jamsil Stadium opened in 1982. That year, Kim Jae-bak’s ‘frog bunt’ and Han Dae-hwa’s three-run home run won the famous world championship, and it has been used as the home stadium of the professional baseball team since 1983. More than 30,000 spectators enjoyed the baseball game, but recently, as a luxury strategy, it has been operated under a reserved seating system and the number of table seats has been expanded, allowing up to 23,750 people to enter. Among the baseball stadiums where professional baseball is currently held, it is the second oldest after Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, but a new stadium is under construction in Daejeon and is scheduled to open in 2025.
It is clear that Seoul City’s announcement of plans to build a dome stadium in Jamsil is welcome as the need for a dome stadium has increased as localized heavy rain has become more frequent due to climate change. As Gocheok Dome was built on a small site, it was disappointing that there were many shortcomings even though it was a dome stadium, so there were many fans who expected a proper dome stadium. That’s why baseball fans have continued to demand the construction of a good dome stadium in Jamsil. It is clear that the city of Seoul is worthy of applause for responding to the voices of baseball players and fans.
But the construction period is too long. Moreover, the bigger problem is that the representative professional baseball teams, Doosan and LG, have not been able to properly decide where to play baseball for a long period of six years.
Currently, there are only two places in Seoul where professional baseball teams can play baseball: Jamsil Stadium and Gocheok Dome. Previously, Mokdong Stadium was used as a home stadium by Kiwoom Heroes, but is now used as an Ama Baseball stadium. In fact, even when Kiwoom was using it, many people pointed out that it was too small for a professional club to use and the facilities were poor.
In addition, if the home stadium is moved to another area, existing fans who used to come to Jamsil may not come due to distance, and when using a small stadium, there may be a significant decrease in sales due to a decrease in admission revenue. In particular, since it is a very long period of 6 years rather than 1 or 2 years, we may face a crisis in which fans may leave while trying to welcome them to a good baseball stadium.
Due to such problems, LG and Doosan have proposed to the Seoul Metropolitan Government to remodel Jamsil Main Stadium into a baseball stadium, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government has refused.
LG said, “We will form a TFT with Doosan to come up with the best plan. We will do our best to ensure that fans and players can watch and play in the best environment.” Doosan also said, “If fans are affected, “No, we will pursue an appropriate plan from the fans’ perspective.” The KBO said, “The two clubs are hoping to remodel Jamsil Main Stadium and use it as a temporary stadium during the construction period. We will continue to discuss with the city of Seoul together with the two clubs.”
Now, the city of Seoul has only announced the beginning of a big plan. If we put our heads together and come up with ideas, the six-year wait can turn into joy.