By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Before last season, when the Hyundai Unicorns' owner stopped financially supporting the team, the head of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) bragged that the disaster would be finished before long, mentioning a few candidates to take over ownership.
But at this point, almost a year has passed, and a chain of setbacks in talks over the Unicorns have branded the four-time Korean Series champion an ownerless team.
In addition, the baseball governing body declared a halt to a negotiation with its last resort to buy the Unicorns, the STX, last month after spending two months on the fruitless talks.
Although the KBO still wants to run the league with eight clubs, including the Unicorns, it has not come up with an eye-popping solution.
``There will turn up good news on Christmas,'' commissioner Shin Sang-woo said.
Added Ha Il-sung, the deputy secretary general: ``We are still looking for counterparts, but nothing has not been decided yet. We need to do our best, but don't have much time to finish the work by the end of this year.''
Unless a new owner buys the team by Jan. 7, when its training is scheduled to begin, the team is likely to be disbanded.
With the situation worsening, no one is volunteering to run the club, though.
A new owner would be responsible for a loan of 13 billion won ($13 million) that the Unicorns, based in Suwon, spent last season. The team's annual deficit reaching a maximum of 20 billion won also makes a company hesitant to purchase it.
In addition, the commissioner's hasty words deteriorated the circumstances. During the talks, the 70-year-old head revealed twice that the two sides had reached an agreement on buying the Unicorns, which made them backtrack from the negotiations.
The Unicorns joined the league in 1996 and won the title two years later. Adding two more crowns to their tally in 2003 and 2004, the team established itself as one of the most successful teams in the KBO.