Sports Towns
Intro
Originally I was going to talk about my visit to a shooting range, but some friends of mine wanted to join me there after Chuseok and it’s still a bit hot outside. So I’m moving it to Season 4, and bringing up an easier story to cover. The idea of sports towns has been bouncing around my head *laughter* (angry voice) yes I think about more than the LG cheerleader dances! Gimme a break here! And a KitKat bar! *joke sting* So we’re going to talk about a few cities in Korea and check them against the criteria of a sports town. Are there even sports towns in Korea? Let’s find out. First, what makes a city a sports town?
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Criteria
I looked up a few articles on sports towns and decided to follow the one I read in the sports bank online .
First, we start with the teams. The article mentioned a city needs more than one, though Green Bay Wisconsin is a slight exception because they have only 1 big league team that’s well supported but they have minor league teams and college teams as well. In Korea, K-League, KBO, KBL, and KOVO are the big 4 leagues. Women’s K-League is considered semi-pro to pro here, there was an exposé about it last week! They even put the accent mark on the e so you know it’s serious! *joke sting* So we’re going to focus on 3 of the big 4, and if there are any minor leagues or famous sports complexes that host big events.
Second, the article lists championships but I’m gonna lower the criteria to decently competitive teams. For example, cities with teams that have made it to playoffs or at least one championship round. I know Daejeon’s Hanwha Eagles haven't won it all before but they have made the playoffs, and they have volleyball- I’ll check if their volleyball team has won or not.
Third, how loyal are the fans? Are people going to the games? Fortunately, we can check this with the league’s attendance records.
Fourth, is the city interested in the teams? This criteria gives Jeonju and Changwon a black mark because of their controversies. But what are other city halls doing, if anything, to bring in teams and start teams?
And finally, sports bars that cover local sports. I think this is optional because sports bars are not that popular here. But I’m going to use it as a way to raise one city over another. However, some of the foreigner bars don’t show local sports that often so I’m more inclined to focus on Korean bars and whether they’re showing the game.
Anyway, we here at the Hwai-Ting sports podcast have done the math and asked the people on reddit, so here are our top 5.
Fans cheering sounds
Go over the top 5
My first idea was Suwon and here’s why: they host a lot of international events at Suwon World Cup because Seoul World Cup gets messed up a lot, it’s close to other large stadiums in Hwaseong and Yongin, and they have a recent championship baseball team in the KT Wiz. Suwon’s football team used to be good but nowadays it’s kinda ass but the fans continue to show up and they get some away fans for the seasonal derbys. Suwon attracted the KT Sonic Boom from Busan thanks to their new stadium, and hosts several college basketball tournaments. They also have both volleyball teams and a women’s football team. Handball is pretty much the only one they don’t have. The former mayor made it a big priority to attract 4 teams to the city and it seems like he succeeded, and now the city is building a hockey rink that women’s ice hockey players can use too. I found a few sports bars as well. I’d say Suwon is a good contender for top sports town with results like these.
Next up is Daejeon. Daejeon is a hard case because the locals really like the Eagles, which like Gwangju gives the city the appearance of being a one sport town. Like all big cities, Daejeon’s got a good football team with over 10 thousand fans a game, and surprisingly an American football team. However, they don’t really have sports bars. The one that appeared on KakaoMap didn’t even have uniforms on the wall. These days the city is more focused on getting ready for the next universiade and I haven’t seen anything about creating or attracting another pro team. What’s also holding them back is winning teams, though the men’s volleyball team used to be a dynasty a decade ago.
Let’s talk about Daegu now: Daegu’s got a lot of everything but not a lot of winners. They even have handball and American football. There are a lot of colleges and famous high school baseball team, so there’s always something with sports going on. But the main focus remains the baseball team the Samsung Lions. The Lions became a dynasty a decade ago but haven’t had much luck until last season. Samsung’s budgetary woes have hamstrung them a bit. The football team’s had bad luck lately and won’t be sniffing the playoffs, but the remaining fans still care. However, because Pohang’s competitive and the distance isn’t great, many Daegu footie fans will go to Pohang games. The lack of winning teams in the region holds it back in some ways, but the city hall continues to invest in international events. There’s talk of hosting some asian game events and sharing the olympics with Jeonju. They don’t really have sports bars either except for one in the Samsung stadium. Therefore, Daegu’s got the touch of a sports town but not the feel of one.
We can’t talk about sports towns without bringing up Busan. Busan’s got everything, since it is the 2nd largest city in the country. But because it’s big, there are some issues because some events can be really hard to get to because of mountains and transportation links. Gijang at the northeastern end used to be tricky to get to but it hosted the basketball stadium and the outdoor baseball fields for the U18 baseball championships I went to years ago. There are surfing beaches in Songjeong as well though the waves aren’t the strongest. One thing they’ve got that most places don’t are harbors that can accommodate yachts, so in Busan they host yacht races and regattas from time to time. City Hall hasn’t been slacking and they got a volleyball team starting this season. However, the city’s most loyal to the Lotte Giants, so the stadium’s often packed and fans from there go to games all over the country. But is it a sports town? Kind of… the basketball teams both won championships recently and the American football teams are still around. But as far as the locals, they don’t seem that attentive to the local teams outside of baseball. There’s just too much going on. I think more people know about the airport problems than the good basketball teams. There are sports bars, but to really follow the local teams you gotta go to the Korean sports bars, not the foreign ones. However, because lots of foreigner bars show Champions League games and such after 10pm, you can ask them to put on the Giants or the volleyball team if you get there early enough. The main thing holding them back is the fact that the Giants have not been a good team in a long time. If the big team’s ain’t winning, do the locals care?
And finally we have Seoul. Seoul’s got everything and that’s a problem. A big problem in some ways because the feds have forced teams out of Seoul in the past to improve regional development. Plus it seems Seoul folks are more interested in cultural events like concerts. And that led to problems with the city overbooking the stadiums and the fields getting too messed up to play on. Whoops *joke sting*. Seoul is a victim of its own success. But that success is fleeting- what with Kiwoon being bad and their attendance being bad as well. Most fans I’ve talked to are not fond of the dome. Hell when I went to it I had a sneezing fit and had to wear my mask. It smelt like burnt plastic up in there *joke sting*. FC Seoul plays in the World Cup stadium and it attracts the most fans, but that fan energy hasn’t led to winning football. Ulsan and Jeonbuk have been too good. oohhh just did some research. Seoul’s Men’s volleyball team hasn’t won a title yet either. Also, they no longer have a men’s handball team. The capital’s starting to slip, y’all! *joke sting*. But unlike the other cities, there are more locally focused sports bars. You can definitely find a sports bar that covers a local sport, if not two. Though to be fair, you’re going to have trouble convincing the owner to put on the Seoul Amazones game when LG is also playing. You might be slapped (slap sound) out of the bar! Anyway, Seoul hosted the 88 olympics and some of the world cup, but I feel like interest in big events there has begun to fade and there’s a big push to get sports outside of Seoul so people don’t feel like there isn’t anything fun outside of it.
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My choice for winner
First, an honorable mention to Anyang. I’ve been to hockey games and while the arena is small, it is packed and not that hard to get to. But there’s no way they’ll be able to get another pro team, being as close as it is to Suwon and Seoul. They have 3 pro teams which is a lot for a city of their size to support, to be honest.
So now my finalists are Busan or Suwon. What really comes down to it for me, being that I don’t live in any of these cities, is whether or not watching sports is a priority for the city. Seoul has so many people that it’s easy to find fans for each team, but the stadiums are not always packed for the games. Unless it’s baseball, of course. But some of that might be due to scalpers.
I’m willing to give it to Suwon just because the locals seem more interested in sports than Busan, and they’ve been hosting a lot of international football lately. Also, it’s a lot closer to sports in other cities that have things Suwon doesn’t. But what do you think, listeners? You can ask me in the Facebook group or on my BlueSky, or vote in the Spotify poll.
Worst person in the sports world
Nap: We have an update for the Nap award! Today’s nap award goes to…the football player we talked about in the previous episode! He was caught on tape elbowing a player in the back of the head. According to reports in star news, The actual victim, Mr. B, was reportedly diagnosed with a concussion and back pain, requiring six weeks of recovery. And now that player has been suspended for 10 years, according to reports in Star News Korea. See I told y’all we don’t play taekwondo soccer anymore *joke sting*.
Radon: The radon award goes to… Jeju SK manager Kim Hak-bum for saying "The overall standard of the K League is declining, and the biggest reason is that the average quality of foreign players is low." Right… It has nothing to do with the coaching carousel or the bad offensive scheming or the crappy referee. (sarcastic voice) It’s always the foreigner’s fault, am I right? And then the league complains they can’t get Lee Kang In or Song Heung Min to play for them. Starting to see why, dear listeners?
Plutonium: And finally we have the plutonium award, which goes to… KIA Group, which has decided to reduce support for the KIA Tigers according to reports in Korean baseball talk show 비야인드 on Sept first. They just renovated 70% of the stadium seats too. This season’s been tough because of all the injuries, but it seems like KIA wants to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I guess they figure, we’ve won our 1 championship for the decade, we can coast off that for 4 years until the fans get anxious again. This probably means Park Chan Ho won’t be resigned. If you’re a Kia Tigers fan, get ready for tough years ahead. Well, maybe I’m being dramatic. It’s never this bad. I got y’all thinking they gonna be the next New England Patriots. I know the media was acting like Lee Beom Ho was the next Bill Belechek! KIA group, you’re the WORST PERSON IN THE SPORTS WORRRRLLLLDDDD!
GAME OF THE WEEK:
There is a LOT for fans to go see this week! And I mean a lot! Let’s start with volleyball. The opening season tournament is starting this week in Yeosu, from the 13th to the 27th this month! The men’s bracket includes Nakhon Ratchasima from eastern Thailand and the women’s team includes Đức Giang from Vietnam. If you like volleyball, you might be able to watch 2 games in 1 day if the game’s not sold out. Tickets are not too expensive and if you live in the Yeosu area, you can get a discount. Also the league got rid of the green card system and the much hated 4 hit rally review system, so I’m looking forward to fewer delays and point shaves. I might record a post game episode on Sunday the 21st, so stay tuned!
Next is the IFSC Climbing & Para climbing World Championships starting Sept 24th to the 28th in Seoul. I’m mentioning it early in case I don’t get the chance to talk about it next week. If you like climbing, this is a chance to see some top tier climbers in action.
In baseball, my pick for Friday night is Dinos vs Twins in Jamsil at 6:30PM. If the Dinos wanna get to the playoffs, they gotta win this game. My pick for Saturday is SSG vs Lotte at Sajik park at 5PM. But the weather service is saying it will rain on Saturday so we’ll see if it’s gonna happen. If you choose to go, make sure you can go on another day at the end of the month. For Sunday I suggest KT vs Samsung in Daegu at 5PM. We’ll see if that’s a rainout as well but it is an important game.
In Football, K-League comes back with Pohang vs Ulsan on Saturday at 7pm. If Ulsan wants to get into the playoff race, now’s the time. But it’s gonna be tough because Pohang smells a jump to second place. On the 20th, Jeonbuk plays Gimcheon in a battle of the best teams. Jeonbuk will likely win but I won’t be surprised if Gimcheon steals it.
And finally there’s a new wheelchair basketball league and Saturday we’ve got 무궁화 vs 코웨이 in 제주한라체육관 at 5pm. Coway’s undefeated at the time of this writing, but don’t be surprised if they’re caught sleeping in their chairs and a win gets stolen away! There are 6 teams in the league and they travel together and rotate stadiums like the handball league does. I’ll mention them again after chuseok since they’re taking the bulk of that month off.
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those hapless souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Kanagawa Japan! Home of the challenge show Takeshi’s Castle or its more common name, MXC Most extreme elimination challenge! Next episode will be at the end of the month and we’re talking about the Lotte Giants! Above all, Korean sports fans, remember this: (echo voice) Don’t get eliminated!
(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at Vulva Mountain, the spiciest and newest lesbian bar in the Hong-day area! Do you like pink? Because all their drinks are some kind of pink alcohol! They even have Shirley Temples that’ll shake your temples! Get your groove thing going on their big dance floor where you’ll bump and grind so much your crabs will get squished! Get your mountain climbed tonight!
Notes
Sports towns article-SportsBank
https://x.com/KORFootballNews/status/1961796098537959619
https://www.starnewskorea.com/sports/2025/09/06/2025090610461367806
Gwangju: 4 pro teams, lots of championships, hosted sports events, sold out baseball but 4,000 average attendance this season, volleyball and handball don’t have proper attendance records.
Busan: Many teams, no baseball championships since 1992, even E-Sports teams and American college football, football top 5 in attendance, Busan got a men’s volleyball team this year thanks to efforts from city hall. Sports bars; Yes, called DugOut!
Seoul: Many sports bars, lots of fans, so many teams, championship teams, but some stadium problems due to overbooking and concerts. They also lost the olympics bid.
Suwon: hosts many international events to get things out of Seoul, some championship teams, a couple of sports bars.
Daejeon: Many teams like American football as well, some decent football teams, and a TV-Run baseball team, along with a military rugby team. Fans love the baseball team even when they’re trash. The other teams… not so much but Daejeon Hana gets 10k fans a game. The Bluefangs men's volleyball team used to be the best but now they aren’t good.
Anyang: Hockey town feel, lots of fans at the hockey games, winning culture, decent soccer attendance, but the basketball team has had some struggles. The city and transportation ministry plan to open a subway station near the sports complex to improve the transportation links.
Daegu: Has a bit of everything, more of a baseball town, strong fan support for other teams, even some surprise teams like a baduk league, and they have hosted international events. I went to the athletic games in Daegu and saw blade runner. But fans are fickle here. They have 1 sports pub in the baseball stadium, with uncertain hours.