By Cho Mu-hyun
With the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)’s board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, the issue of the recently formed NC Dinos advancing to the first division has resurfaced.
The KBO is scheduled to discuss the creation of another professional club and approve the motion to have the Dinos join the nation’s top league within 2013. But some of the current professional sides owned by chaebols are reportedly against a 10th club and are scheming to thwart NC’s entry as well.
In a move against this, a group of retired baseball associates, Ilgoo, sent an official statement to the sport’s top governing body on Friday, asking the organization to ignore the “selfish motives” of the chaebol clubs and proceed with the expansion.
“There are rumors that some clubs are opposed to the NC Dino’s entering the first division, and are blocking the creation of a tenth club,” the statement read. “Blocking the expansions of clubs is a result of egoism in the clubs that are only looking after their own interests. We demand that the KBO reveals those clubs who are unable to see the bigger picture of the development of professional baseball, and instead are trapped in their own selfishness.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Korea Professional Baseball Association (KPBA) also sent a message to the KBO, asking the governing body to make a resolute decision regarding the Dinos.
The ninth professional club was created last year with the objective of entering the second division this season. Ultimately the team would join the top division within 2013. Another team formation would even the number to 10 but the clubs have faced opposition from other sides who believed a 10-team system would not work. The sides most vocal in their oppositions are known to be Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions.
In a survey conducted of 60 baseball officials by a Korean sports media outlet, 53 percent of the respondents said that they believed the Dinos’ joining the first division was crucial to the development of the sport.
“The meeting is yet to convene so I am not sure of the extent of the opposition,” said KBO secretary general Yang Hae-young. “The issue of the NC is something that must be decided now.”
“NC is already a member of the KBO, and I think it is impossible to block them from entering the first division,” he added.
“NC has made great efforts to prepare and kept their end of what the baseball community demanded of us,” said Dinos’ CEO Lee Tae-il. “I hope the issues will be settled with the long-term perspective of further developing the entire league.”