The Hanwha Eagles will hold their last game of the first division at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Sunday. Baseball Dream Park, a new baseball stadium that is being built right next to the existing stadium, will open from next year. Baseball Dream Park, a new baseball stadium in Daejeon that is being built with 20,000 seats, has a 67 percent process rate and is scheduled to be completed by February next year. Grass planting and seating will be installed starting next month.
Ahead of the Daejeon SSG-Hanwha match on the 28th, KBO President Hu Ju-yeon made a surprise visit to the site of the construction of Baseball Dream Park at 4 p.m. President Huh, who attended the opening ceremony of the “2024 Kids Club Club T-Ball Competition” held at the KBO Baseball Center in Boeun-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do earlier in the day to expand the base of baseball, split his busy schedule and moved to Daejeon in the afternoon to look around the construction site of the new baseball stadium.
“It’s been a long time since I visited Daejeon tomorrow because I heard it was my last game there,” Huh said. “I looked around the construction site of a new baseball stadium and received a briefing on the current situation.” “I saw a double-decker bullpen session, Infinity Pool, and an escalator that connects from the ground floor for the first time in Korea. I expect it to be a great stadium that can differentiate itself from other stadiums.”
At the same time, he did not forget his request to Daejeon City. “All of them are good, but I also ordered a few things. I like the view over the outfield of the ballpark where I can see Sikjangsan Mountain. However, high-rise buildings are built on the left and right sides, which can slightly block the view. If high-rise buildings are built in the center (due to redevelopment in the future), the view of the ballpark may be blocked. The fans will like the view of the mountain even more,” he said.
Governor Huh has been co-chairman of the Advisory Committee for Baseball Dream Park since he was a commentator, arguing that leisure and amusement facilities linked to the Bomunsan Mountain tourism development project should be prepared in the space outside the baseball stadium. More than 30% of the outside space has been created as green spaces, emphasizing the need for space for citizens’ rest and leisure activities beyond baseball.
Huh cited Daegu Samsung Lions Park, Samsung’s home ground, as an example. “Samsung’s performance this year is partly due to its good performance, but the number of spectators in Daegu has increased significantly since a few years ago,” Huh said. “Good natural environment around the ballpark is also a big factor.” “Lapak,” which was opened in 2016, is surrounded by green areas such as mountains and reservoirs. As the green area across the street from the ballpark is visible, it makes people feel as if they are at a park as its name suggests.
Samsung, the second-ranked team in this year’s regular season, attracted the largest number of spectators after LG (1.397,499), which uses Jamsil Stadium in Seoul with a total of 1,347,022 spectators in 73 home games, including 30 sold-out games. It ranked third (674,452) and fifth (845,775), respectively, in the 2022-2023 home crowd rankings, which failed to advance to the autumn baseball league by ranking seventh to eighth, showing above average spectators’ mobilization regardless of their performance. 먹튀검증
Considering that the nature-friendly viewing environment and open view are one of the reasons for Rafak’s success, Huh said, “The new Daejeon baseball stadium should also make the best use of its strengths to make it a better stadium. I hope Daejeon City will provide a lot of cooperation and help.”
In addition, Governor Heo said, “We hope to increase parking spaces more than now,” and asked for improvement of the parking environment using existing baseball stadiums after the completion of the project. According to the current stadium transportation plan, a total of 1,863 parking units are being built, and more than 400 additional units are expected to be secured after remodeling the existing baseball stadium. Governor Huh believes that the number of cars needs to be increased by more than 200 so that fans can enter and exit the ballpark more smoothly.
Meanwhile, Huh watched the match between the SSG and Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon with Jang Jong-hoon, the special advisor for the president. The sixth-ranked SSG, which won the game 6-2, maintained a 0.5-game gap with fifth-ranked KT, and if it wins the final match against Kiwoom in Munhak on Thursday, it will hold the first tiebreaker for the fifth-ranked team in the KBO league. As the competition continues until the end of the season, Huh, who opened the era of 10 million spectators, can hardly hide his smile. With four more games to go, this year’s KBO League has a total of 10,814,314 spectators and 15,104 spectators on average.
