Sentimental guy that I am, I wish they would have left Dongdaemun Stadium intact. You talk about a place redolent with history! It was built during the dark days of Japanese colonialism, and a large number of soccer games, baseball games and track meets were held there. And let us not forget how 250,000 joyous citizens gathered at Dongdaemun Stadium on August 15, 1945, liberation day. It oozed funk and authenticity, but the ballpark was obsolete and fell victim to the wrecking ball in 2008.
Jamsil Stadium, part of the sports complex built for the 1988 Summer Olympics, has been home to the LG Twins and Doosan Bears since the early years of pro baseball in Korea. Somewhat obsolete itself, Jamsil Stadium has a seating capacity of 26,000 with plenty of parking. Neither the Twins nor the Bears showed much interest in moving across town to the spiffy new Gocheok Skydome. It seats just over 18,000 for baseball and 22,000 for concerts.
This edifice, costing 240 billion won ($200 million) has taken a long and tortuous path to completion. Plans were changed several times, and the behind-the-scenes political wrangling left some bruised feelings. Seoul’s third baseball franchise is the Nexen Heroes. Unlike the Twins and Bears, the Heroes have a weak ownership structure. Under a different name, they played in Incheon and Suwon—note that they won the KBO championship in 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004—but folded in 2008. The Heroes were back in business the next year and began calling Mokdong Stadium home. I have attended a couple of games there and do not want to be critical. Nevertheless, it had just 12,000 seats and was a long way from being a big-league facility. Korean pro baseball aspires to reach the level of its Japanese counterpart, but Mokdong was a poor advertisement. Fine for amateur baseball, it was “bush” from a professional perspective.
Seoul Metropolitan Government went ahead on designing, paying for and building the Gocheok Skydome. The dream, I surmise, was to have something to rival the Tokyo Dome—home of the Yomiuri Giants. It seats 42,000 and is undoubtedly the jewel of Japan’s baseball stadiums. But time went on, and management of both the Twins and Bears refused to be enticed. They grumbled about the lack of parking, the fact that the domed stadium would be surrounded by already-packed streets and the financial constraints imposed by the city. They simply would not leave Jamsil, which meant the pressure was raised on Nexen’s owners. The city decided unilaterally that Mokdong Stadium would henceforth be for amateur baseball only. The Heroes were reluctant to move, but they had no choice. They agreed, or should I say they capitulated.
I asked two bright young Koreans to come with me to the Heroes’ first game at the Gocheok Skydome on March 15, 2016. Both of them have athletic backgrounds—Anthony Kim in soccer and Bo-Min Baek in volleyball. This was actually a pre-season game, at 1 p.m. on a weekday, so there would not be a big crowd. Nor would we see the cheerleaders who are such a big part of Korean baseball. Tickets, I am happy to say, were free. In fact, the stadium was first put to use in October 2015 with a concert by the boy band EXO (I can’t believe I missed it!) and a couple of games involving the Korean national team and Cuba and Japan. The Heroes’ opponent would be the SK Wyverns.
One beauty—Bo-Min—and two beasts—Anthony and I—had excellent seats along the third-base line. We ate chicken and kimbap, drank beer and watched a fairly interesting contest; the Wyverns won, 6-4, thanks mostly to a grand-slam home run by Kang-Min Kim. Neither of my friends knew too much about baseball, so I filled them in on rules and terminology. The three of us seemed in agreement that the Gocheok Skydome is attractive both inside and out, and a very pleasant sports venue. Perhaps it should be bigger, but its proximity to Guil Subway Station spelled convenience for us.
My main concern is that the Nexen Heroes have made no long-term commitment to the Gocheok Skydome. As indicated earlier, their landlord, Seoul Metropolitan Government, essentially forced them to take up residence there. After the 2016 season, they may leave. A couple of smaller cities, albeit with ballparks no better than Mokdong, would welcome them. What, then, for this sparkling new stadium in western Seoul?
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