By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
The Seoul Heroes will now be known as the Nexen Heroes after signing a two-year title sponsorship agreement with the tire manufacturer Monday.
The third Seoul-based team made the announcement Tuesday morning, which will give the Nexen Tire Corporation the rights to advertise on the club's uniforms, hats and helmets.
While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the deal is expected to provide some much needed cash to a team that has long been rumored to have been suffering from serious financial woes.
"We are very appreciative that Nexen has decided to partner with us," Heroes general manager Lee Jang-suk said.
The team has had difficulty securing a stable main sponsor ever since the Hyundai Unicorns moved from Suwon to Seoul prior to the 2008 season. The Woori cigarette company signed a three-year sponsorship agreement worth 30 billion won with the team prior to that season to become its title sponsor, but the agreement didn't even last a full year. The Woori Heroes became simply The Heroes in August 2008 when Woori pulled out of the agreement. They have not had a new title sponsor until now. Last season, the team relied solely on sub sponsors and the team appeared to have trouble paying off its franchise fee to the league.
On Dec. 30 this year, the team traded away three of its best players in players-for-cash deals; however, the Heroes denied it was due to financial difficulties.
The deals saw outfielder Lee Taek-keun head to the LG Twins, pitcher Lee Hyun-seung go to the Doosan Bears and pitcher Jang Won-sam switch to the Samsung Lions, with 5.5 billion won, along with a few players, coming back in return.
"With a new main sponsor, our budget to operate becomes healthier," said a Nexen Heroes official. However, the official said those extra funds won't necessarily be spent on the product on the field.
"We don't have any plans to acquire more valuable players to make a push for the playoffs at this point. However, it's not the right time to discuss that," the official said.
"We decided to enter into this sponsorship agreement, not only because we want to profit from this sports marketing opportunity, but also because we feel a responsibility to help Korean professional baseball to succeed, as one of Korea's leading companies," Nexen Tire Vice President Lee Byung-woo said. "We hope our support will help the NEXEN Heroes be one of the strongest and most popular teams in the Korea Baseball Organization."
Nexen, Korea's first tire manufacturer, was founded in 1956 and has annual sales of more than 10 trillion won.