Opening
PM: (“singing” lines from Brass Construction’s hit “Movin’”) “...Got myself together, yeah, and I’m movin’ on”
SA: Hello and welcome to Hwa-ting sports! I am Mr.S.
PM: And I’m Paul.
SA: And we are the hosts of Hwa-ting Sports podcast. We focus on sports played in South Korea, their history and other things of interest. You can find this podcast on whatever and other spots, and episodes on our website, when we make one.
PM: What’s our credentials you ask? We’re long-time residents who’ve lived here for decades and we’ve been to sooo many sporting events! But the sports podcast market is a bit empty (cricket sounds) so you’ve got us and only us! With that, 1, 2, 3 Hwa-ting!
SA: Our second episode deals with sports franchises relocating and the possibility of it happening again soon, particularly when it comes to Korean baseball.
PM: And we’ll also discuss untapped cities and areas for teams to potentially move to - and, indeed, as possible expansion locales in case there’s a desire to add more clubs at some point.
SA: Before we begin, a little fun fact: your two friendly neighbourhood podcasters are both fans of clubs that relocated. I’m a fan of both the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors.
PA: While I’m a fan of the Calgary Flames. In all three cases, these franchises retained their nicknames, a practice which seems to be becoming increasingly rare. Mr. S, is there anything you’d like to share about your teams relocating in the past?
SA: The Giants relocation to San Francisco had all sorts of issues including a no-bid contract, racial redlining allegation since it was built at the edge of the African-American community zone. AND it was mind-numbingly cold because of the pacific ocean winds. They even build a Korean-style radiant heating system under the seats in the concrete but it never worked. The gusts would blow popups around and confuse outfields.
PM: They nearly relocated to Toronto in the seventies, didn’t they?
Intro: The History of Clubs Relocating in Korea
PM: So, before we get to the Big 3 team sports in this country, Mr S, could you edify us on relocations in sports like volleyball, handball and hockey?
SA: Volleyball has had a few, most recently the GS Caltexx Women’s team moving from Gumi to Seoul. That one stung because it’s our closest team by distance. Korea’s remaining ice hockey Team Anyang Halla used to be Mando Winia and based in Mok-dong, Seoul, which moved in 2005 and became Anyang Halla.
PM: In football, the practice has been rare, as it is throughout much of the world with the glaring exception of the MLS, because North Americans just have to be different from everyone else. (Paul proceeds to mention the story of Bucheon FC’s cloak and dagger move to Jeju)
SA: Also, Gwangju’s team used to be Sangmu, the military players team composed of pro-players completing their military conscription. They moved to Sangju city and then Gimcheon, both in Gyeongbuk province. They’re notable in that they don’t have foreign players. On an unexpected side note - there is an Army rugby team, there was an ice hockey team and there is a Mungyeong Sangmu WFC team even though women are not conscripted as of this episode.
SA: In basketball, it seems to happen all the time. (Steve lists off a few examples; giving all of them could take up too much time)
SA: (Talk about Jeonju KCC and Busan KT Sonic Boom and Karrot jumpers almost moved)
SA: KCC Egis left Jeonju because the university wanted the stadium land for another purpose and the city didn’t want to build a new stadium. We actually went to the last game, a playoff game! The SonicBoom started in Gwangju, moved to Yeosu and played well there, then moved to Busan in 2003 due to financial issues and got picked up by KT. They left Busan because, I shit you not, the league changed the rules to make the teams play and train in the same city, and SonicBoom used to be bused in from Suwon to play in Busan. That’s about 3 hours without traffic.
PM: Imagine if the 76ers lived in Pittsburgh and had to play in Philly.
SA: Complete with roughly similar traffic as well.
PM: Which brings us to baseball, which inspired this episode. Technically, relocations in the KBL have only happened twice. (Paul gives the 2 examples then mentions the kind of, sort of cases when franchises folded and then were reactivated under new names and in new locations) Mr S, tell us about the situation with Changwon’s NC Dinos and the rumours of their move.
SA: When the NC Dinos planned their new stadium, Jinhae city councillors threatened to secede from Changwon because the Dinos didn’t want to move there. https://www.hapskorea.com/fight-over-nc-dinos-stadium-continues/
Part of the problem is that there are only two non-expressway roads into Jinhae and no train station. Good luck getting anybody from Seoul into a game without a 5 hour round-trip!
PM: Since the article failed to come up with any potential spots for the Dinos to relocate to, we thought we’d come up with some of our own! I’ll begin with one of the more obvious candidates, Jeju.
(Steve and Paul discuss pros and cons of a ball club toiling on Jeju Island. Steve then gives another potential city for relocation. This back-and-forth exchange goes on for a while)
Jeju Pros & Cons
P: The island’s massive tourist numbers.
P: You’d assume there’d be plenty of money to potentially back it.
P: All regional airports fly to Jeju. Ferry terminals as well.
P; Jeju City and Seogwipo have baseball fields though they would need extreme construction (they’re like Mudeung or Iksan’s field). Jeju City’s very close to the airport.
C: Off-peak attendance could be a worry; Jeju’s native population isn’t exactly huge.
C: Jeju being a hotspot for rainy season typhoons doesn’t bode well. Even if they construct a domed or retractable roof stadium, there’s the problem of delayed flights carrying teams on them.
C: If this was really such a good idea, why hasn’t it already been done?
Gangwondo
P: Proximity to Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.
P: Summer tourist numbers can’t hurt.
P: Having a stadium at altitude (assuming such a thing exists in cities like Wonju, Gangneung or Chuncheon) could result in a higher number of home runs like at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
C: There are already enough teams in the northern part of the country.
C: Like Jeju, there’s the concern that the population may not be big enough to support 72 home games a year… Colder than Seoul/Incheon in spring and mid-fall so night games are out.
C: Would a sufficient number of fans of other teams show up?
Ulsan/Pohang
P: Money. Loads of money in these industrial company towns.
P: Good population base to rely upon.
C: Should only be considered as a destination for a Dinos relocation: expansion to either of these cities would over-saturate the Yeongnam area.
C: Ulsan too close to Busan. Lotte Giants play some games there.
Jeonju
P: Supported a team previously (the Ssangbangwool Raiders; damn they had a sweet logo!) and they folded only because their corporate overlords went under so there’s no reason it wouldn’t work again, right? Right???
P: North Jeolla is an untapped market.
P: Could be a good potential rival for both the Kia Tigers and Hanwha Eagles.
P: It doesn’t hurt that Jeonju is one of this country’s most popular travel spots.
C: Their stadium is small (10,000 seat capacity) and old.
C: They’ve been without a team for so long that younger fans may be too loyal to Kia. (I’d throw Hanwha in there too but I don’t think there are even many people from Daejeon who have much loyalty to the Eagles)
C: No disrespect to Jeonju but it doesn’t exactly scream big league, does it? (But these aren’t the big leagues so what does it matter?)
PA: So, Mr S, of these candidates, which is the most likely destination for the NC Dinos?
Final Thoughts
SA: So, that concludes our look at baseball but what about other sports?
PM: The relocation of our beloved KCC Egis from Jeonju to Busan last year really hammered home the fact that a large chunk of this country is starved of men’s professional basketball. 6 teams are in the northwest, 4 are in the southeast and that’s all there is.
SA: Daejeon and Gwangju are glaringly absent - and until 3 years ago, Daegu was also without a team. City size is much less of a factor than in baseball.
PM: With fewer games played and the venues on the whole being smaller (though, fun fact, the capacity of Busan’s Sajik Arena is only slightly smaller than Seoul’s Gocheok Skydome) there is less of a need to rely upon massive attendance figures, which is beneficial considering very few Korean basketball fans travel the country for games the way many baseball supporters do.
SA: Because Busan was happy with the numbers and interest in the team, they’re upgrading Sajik stadium, according to reports translated by BusanHaps magazine.
SA: Before we leave today, we’d like to give our thanks to James, the artist of our cool logo.
PM: You can find links to his products at our site when we get it up & running eventually, and we’ll include them on our streaming site profiles.
SA: That’ll do it for today’s episode- I have to start relocating my living room into the rest of the house because I’m getting flooring redone.
PA: Guests of the Hwa-ting Sports podcast stay at your place because they aren’t invited to mine.