What will happen to the Ulsan Whales? KBO President Heo Goo-yeon and Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook discuss expanding the base of baseball

*This content was translated by AI.

Heo Goo-yeon, president of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), watched the final home game of the Ulsan Whales held at Munsu Baseball Stadium on the 13th and met with Kim Sang-wook, Mayor of Ulsan Metropolitan City, to discuss future development plans including revitalizing community baseball, expanding the base of baseball, and securing the self-sufficiency of the Ulsan Whales.

Attendees at the meeting included Kim Cheol-wook, Chairman of the Ulsan Metropolitan City Sports Council, along with KBO's Kim Si-jin Gyeong Gi-un-yeong (Chairman), President Lee Man-soo's advisor, and volunteer committee member Yoon Hak-gil.

The game held on this day was the final home game of the 2026 season for the Ulsan Whales, which were founded this year. A total of 7,310 spectators visited Munsu Baseball Stadium, surpassing the record for the first home opener of the franchise on March 20 (7,299 spectators) and setting a new all-time single-game attendance record in the Futures League.

During the event, Mayor Kim Sang-wook threw the ceremonial first pitch, and the fan who visited Munsu Baseball Stadium most frequently this season took the ceremonial first hit, adding significance to the occasion.

After the ceremonial first pitch ceremony, President Heo Goo-yeon and Mayor Kim Sang-wook watched the game and exchanged pleasantries, congratulating the Ulsan Whales on a successful completion of their first season and expressing gratitude to the spectators and citizens of Ulsan for their enthusiastic support.

They then extensively discussed concrete revitalization plans, including accelerating the establishment as an independent legal entity, expanding baseball clinics in collaboration with KBO volunteer committee members, and building a baseball ecosystem to retain outstanding local youth players.

The Ulsan Whales played 48 home games this season, recording a cumulative attendance of 71,113 and an average attendance of 1,482.

Additionally, during the 94th games played by Ulsan this season, 44 games were broadcast via KBSN Sports, tvN SPORTS, KBS Life, and UBC Ulsan Broadcasting YouTube. They recorded a peak viewership rating of 0.27%, a peak audience of 61,819 viewers, an average viewership rating of 0.09%, and an average audience of 19,446 viewers.

Meanwhile, the KBO has continued to support local baseball revitalization efforts, such as providing 240 baseballs to 37 youth and social baseball teams in the Ulsan region at Munsu Baseball Stadium on July 26.

The KBO stated, "Through this meeting, we plan to further strengthen cooperation with Ulsan City and continue to expand such local baseball development support programs in the future."

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*This content was translated by AI.