KBO club to play at temporary home due to safety issues
This image provided by the NC Dinos, Thursday, shows the emblem of the Korea Baseball Organization club. Yonhap
The NC Dinos announced Thursday they will play the remainder of this Korean baseball season at a temporary home, owing to safety issues at their original ballpark in light of a tragic incident in March.
The Dinos said Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will be their home for the rest of this Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) campaign. Their first home game there will be May 16 against the Kiwoom Heroes.
The Dinos are based in Changwon, about 70 kilometers southwest of Ulsan.
They have not played at Changwon NC Park there since March 29. During a game against the LG Twins that day, a female fan was struck by a louver panel that fell off the window of the Dinos' office above a concession stand. She died of a head injury two days later.
Officials from the Dinos and the municipal government of Changwon promptly launched extensive safety inspections at the ballpark, which opened in 2019. However, the club, the city and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have not been able to agree on the timetable for the stadium's reopening, forcing the Dinos to begin searching for a temporary home last week.
The Dinos said they contacted Ulsan after the long weekend and thanked the city for its cooperation.
"With the support of the KBO, we explored several options and decided on Munsu Stadium after talks with the city of Ulsan," Dinos CEO Lee Jin-man said. "Ulsan has agreed to handle maintenance and management of the stadium. I'd like to thank the city for their active cooperation."
The Dinos have had to swap scheduled home games with their opponents and play them on the road instead. They are 1-4-0 (wins-losses-ties) in Changwon and 14-14-0 on the road. They will enter the weekend action on a season-high five-game winning streak, while sitting in a virtual tie for sixth place.
Because of multiple disruptions to their schedule, the Dinos have played the fewest games in the KBO so far this year with 33.
Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium opened in 2014 and has a capacity of about 12,000. It has served as an alternate home for another KBO club in the southeast region, the Lotte Giants, with the Busan-based club playing a few home games there in some earlier seasons.