I am curious as to how many of the K-League teams are playing in WC stadiums and how many of the stadiums are now white elephants. Are there plans to expand the K-League, perhaps add a team or two in Seoul? It seems as if not having a club in the largest city in South Korea is a bit ridiculous. What is the status of the K-League now, has the WC fever brought an increased interest in the domestic game?
we have five or six biggest cities, each having population close to 1 mil. or more. There are two new teams being created in two of these cities which did not have any pro. football team for a while if ever. Also there are a lot of talks going on to create a Seoul team, possibly more than two. Korean FA asked about $ 25 mil. for just creating a team in Seoul up until now, but people have been saying that's just way freaking too much, so they are thinking about lowering the cost. What is sure is that by next year there are going to be at least 12 teams, and in next 2 ~ 3 years, the league will have more than 16 teams. After that there could be 2nd division which will probably be made up of mostly current amateur soccer teams. (Korea has one of the best amateur teams on earth, I believe)
not all worldcup stadia were soccer purposed, some of em were built for multi purpose. only Some clubs are using those soccer purposed stadia and most of them are just left alone. well status of k-league is good, average attendance has gone up huge (around 25k~30k) and sometimes soccer news are in frontpage (It was all baseball before) but expanding clubs arent that easy. KFA and government dictates too much (just like NFL, LA without any football team) problems are... there is this stupid law prohibiting any civilian or corporation from owing a stadium. about several years ago, a k-league team built a stadium but owner had to donate that stadium to city and lease it each year cuz of this stinking law. so cities take money from parking fee, food vendors in stadia, advertising fee and clubs take just some portion of entrance fee. so most k-league clubs are in red figures. (corporations own k-league clubs and those red figures are tax deductable)
Yeah teams like Bucheon, Anyang, and Sungnam are all in the suburbs of Seoul. You pointed out a good question. Seoul fans don't really cheer anybody. So when you go to some Stadiums you'll see people cheering for one team then at the next moment they'll be cheering for the other. BTW, Currently there are only 4 teams using WC Stadiums The Suwon Bluewings :: Suwon WC Stadium Daejeon Citizen :: Daejeon WC Stadium Jeonbuk F.C :: Jeonju WC Stadium Ulsan F.C :: Ulsan Munsu WC Stadium The rest are just chilling waiting for a team.
Hey ess, a bit off topic here, but I caught the end of the Blue Wings/Steelers game tonight and the stands looked a bit more empty than usual. Was it raining or something? Hate to think that the WC glow is starting to wear off of the K-league. Looked like a pretty good game from what I saw. Will Seoulites be loyal to a new team when they've had the likes of Anyang and Sungnam around them (it really isn't that far).
Amin Its probably because schools back in session and school girls dont have time to scream at their players. You thought it was a good game? Maybe in the 2nd half but both teams blew too many chances. Suwon should've put at least 3 away. As with Seoulites yeah I think they will be loyal. Once they do create a Seoul team I'm sure the rivalry between clubs/regions will increase and we may be looking at a more stable fan base. Seoul will no doubt become the envy of many other cities and hopefully other clubs will get their act straight to attract more fans.
Suwon/Pohang [R] That's why I thought it was a good game . Pohang's been suckin pretty bad ever since I told you I like them and I actually expected Suwon to smoke their asses.
Suwon couldnt smoke shiet even if i gave them a ligheter (bad joke). I'm actually really angry at their management now. And another reason im angry is because I ordered the new jersey from them but they still havent got it from adidas. im angry now.
Denis was always the menace. I guess he just got to big for us Koreans, now that he gets named regularly for the Russian squad. But it still makes me sad to see him go. Kim Ho should go too. Now that Suwon has Gotbi, the Iraninan-American visual technician that was part of the Korean Nat squad in 2002 (he was also on the USA 98 team), Suwon should start looking at a new coach to navigate their ways through the league. No longer do I want to see the greatest team underachieving.