A U.S. entrepreneur plans to launch a professional baseball team in South Korea on condition that the home city build a stadium for the club's use, Yonhap News Agency reported in a dispatch from Washington Tuesday, quoting his South Korean business partner.
Kenneth Young, who owns four minor league professional baseball teams in the United States, including the Norfolk Tides AAA Baseball Club and the Albuquerque Isotopes AAA Baseball Club, would base the new team in Ansan, south of Seoul, according to Jo Dong-yun, who heads the South Korean sports management agency, TSMGI.
Young is planning to visit the country next week to finalize talks with the municipal authorities and submit an application to the Korea Baseball Organization, Jo said.
"The biggest precondition for setting up a new club in Ansan is the construction of a domed stadium there," Jo told reporters at a press conference in Virginia.
"The purpose of launching a team in South Korea is to bring a top-class family entertainment complex to Ansan and to demonstrate a high standard of baseball," he said, adding that the new team could join the South Korean league as early as 2013 if all goes according to plan.
In a video message, Young said he developed an interest in South Korean baseball after watching it compete on the global stage.
Young is also the president of Ovations Food Services, which caters for stadiums, arenas, convention centers and other public assembly facilities across the U.S. and Canada.