Expansion team, league displeased with stadium location

A South Korean expansion baseball team expressed its displeasure with the site its home city has selected for its new stadium, saying that the decision was “political” and did not take into account public opinion.

Changwon, an industrial city in South Gyeongsang Province, home of the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization, announced earlier that it will build a new ballpark on the land formerly occupied by the Army College in nearby Jinhae district.

It’s located south of downtown Changwon.

Changwon had three candidate sites for the new ballpark but critics argue that the city chose the location that is the least accessible to the public.

The Dinos, which will join the top league as the ninth team this season, said in a statement that Changwon’s decision “was difficult to accept.”

“The city’s selection of Jinhae as the location was based on political interests and it wasn’t for the people,” the Dinos said.

“This is a type of decision that imposes inconveniences on the very people who were excluded from the decision-making process.”

The Dinos are the KBO’s first expansion club since 1991.

When the league gave the Dino’s the final green light in March 2011, Changwon pledged to build a new ballpark with at least 25,000 seats by 2016. (Yonhap News)