A child’s baseball fan cheers for the LAN at the SK Happy Dream Baseball Stadium in Incheon, the home of SK Wyverns. Provided by SK Wyverns
SK Wyverns, a 21-year-old professional baseball player, will be sold to Shinsegae Group (hereinafter referred to as Shinsegae). The sale price was 135.3 billion won. One million shares of SK Telecom owned by the club are 100 billion won, and the rest is the price of real estate such as the second district baseball stadium and accommodation in Ganghwa Island. The price of a pure baseball team is 100 billion won. The Wyverns coaching staff, the squad and the front are all hired. SK and Shinsegae signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the 26th. This contract will take effect on the 23rd of next month. This contract was a’secret operation’ that was not known at all except for a small number of both companies. A number of companies and baseball officials said, “There were no rumors. I saw the news and understood.” An official from a large company said, “It seems that the security was thoroughly maintained because the’deal’ would be broken if rumors leaked in advance.” That’s why the internal shock of SK Wyverns baseball team is bigger. This is because the baseball team is sold regardless of the financial situation of the parent company. Shinsegae has already started preparing for the 2021 season, which will open in April. A group-level organizational preparation team was formed, and the name, emblem, and character of the club will be confirmed soon. Not only the club owner, but also the symbol of the baseball team is changing. However, it was decided to continue maintaining Incheon Metropolitan City. This is because of the symbolism of’Incheon Baseball’. Shinsegae has already established a relationship with SK club. In the outfield of Incheon Happy Dream Stadium, SK’s home stadium, E-Mart Barbecue Zone was installed from 2015, and in 2019, Skybox was operated as an E-Mart brand room. Shinsegae Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin has been interested in marketing through baseball for quite some time. The acquisition of Wyverns is in line with Shinsegae’s recent strategy, which has invested in large complex shopping mall businesses such as Starfield. It is not a simple promotion, but a calculation that leads to consumption by inducing customer experiences. Vice-Chairman Jeong said that before the opening of Starfield Hanam in 2016, “the rival of the retail industry will be a theme park or a baseball field.” On this day, a Shinsegae official said, “We cannot suddenly decide to take over the baseball team. The period of interest in acquiring the baseball team is quite long,” he said. “The vision of a company that aims to integrate on and off customers fits well with the baseball industry. It was a reasonable price and a good opportunity to take over.” According to the baseball world, Shinsegae has shown interest in acquiring the Doosan Bears and Kiwoom Heroes clubs, but both Doosan and Heroes are known to have expressed awkwardness. At Doosan, the group’s officials have strong willingness to operate the baseball team, and Heroes has a complex stake in the club, including former CEO Jang-seok Lee, who is currently in prison. In the case of SK, it seems that the decisive reason for the sale was that the baseball team had the worst season since its foundation last year. Last season, the team competed last season with Hanwha with the most consecutive losses (11 consecutive victories), while the drunk driving and assault incidents of the second-team players took a big blow to the group image that values business ethics. Here, due to the Corona 19 incident, the crowd suffered from a deficit. It is said that there has been a talk inside the group that it is better to do charity work. SK plans to focus on supporting underprivileged sports such as handball in the future. On this day, SK Telecom announced that it plans to launch the’Korea Sports Fostering TF’, which will develop various sports balances and prepare plans for global development and support of domestic sports. Already in December of last year, Chairman Choi Tae-won ran for the chairman of the Korea Handball Association and reappointed himself, expressing his willingness to continue supporting. In addition, as he was appointed vice president of the Asian Olympics Council (OCA), which oversees sports organizations across Asia and in charge of Asian Games, he is expanding his influence in the international sports world. Professional baseball may be an obstacle to Chairman Choi’s actions. Several procedures remain until the acquisition of the baseball team is completed. After the main contract of both sides is over next month, KBO must report the acquisition of the club, and KBO will review it. According to the KBO regulations, sales or transfers of clubs are required to be reported by November 30 of the year before the start of the season, so this is expected to be pointed out. On the day, an official from KBI said, “By regulations, it is not the time to take over by the club, so if the Shinsegae side submits the documents, you will hear clarifications on why the report is late.” By Lee Jung-guk, staff reporter [email protected]