Pro-basketball team KCC Egis to move home from Jeonju to Busan

The professional basketball team KCC Egis will relocate its home base from the southwestern city of Jeonju to Busan on the southeast coast.

The Korea Basketball League on Wednesday approved a proposal to move the team's home city during a board meeting held at the KBL center in southern Seoul.

The KCC Egis was founded in 2001 in Jeonju after acquiring the Hyundai Gullivers, a team based in the central city of Daejeon, and moving the home city. With the approval, the team will bid farewell to Jeonju after 22 years.

The KBL has seen a number of home city changes in recent years. In June 2021, the KT Sonicboom relocated from Busan to Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. In September of that year, Korea Gas Corp. acquired the Incheon ET Land Elephants and relocated its home base to the southeastern city of Daegu.

Busan will be getting a professional basketball team once again, just two years after the KT Sonicboom moved to Suwon.

After the relocation to Busan, the KCC Egis' home games will be played at the Sajik Gymnasium, which the KT Sonicboom previously used.

The Sajik Gymnasium is currently used as the home arena for the women's professional basketball team BNK Sum in Busan. The KCC Egis has decided to share the home arena with the BNK Sum.

"We had many problems with our original home city, Jeonju," team manager Choi Hyung-gil told Yonhap News Agency after the board meeting. "We'd been patient and tried to solve them smoothly, but the situation became increasingly unbearable," he said of the reason for the relocation.

Choi requested "deep understanding and cooperation" for the team's position, as the team finds it challenging to disclose all the details behind the decision.

"We feel the most sorry for the Jeonju fans who supported us for 22 years," he said. "We also apologize for any inconvenience caused to the KBL and other teams. With this decision, we aim to be a new team that contributes to the overall development of Korean basketball." (Yonhap)