In the Midst of COVID-19, the KBO League Brings an Exciting Opportunity
Rarely do we get a chance to follow a new league.
When I woke up on Monday morning, I was only vaguely aware of the existence of professional baseball in Korea. By that night, I had become a huge fan of the KBO League, used the word “we” to describe my favorite team, and was looking up how to buy merch.
Isn’t that amazing?
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of horrific. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives and millions more are sick. Unemployment rates are rising and many people have left without healthcare and worrying about if they’ll be able to pay rent while those who are still going to the workplace are at constant risk of contracting the virus. People have been quarantining and social distancing for two months without any indication of when life will return to normal. Many are unable to see their loved ones.
This is a time fraught with uncertainty, and another area where that has hit hard is live sports. No one knows for sure whether the NBA will finish its season, if the MLB will even have a season, and what the future holds for every other sport and league we know and love. When will it be safe to play games, and when might fans be allowed in stadiums? Will that even happen next year?
To be clear, sports are low on the overall priority list. There are far worse things to keep one up at night than wondering whether LeBron James and the Lakers will get a chance to compete for a championship. However, for so many of us, sports make up such an important piece of our lives that it’s only natural to long for their return.
We’ve watched replays of some of the greatest games of all-time and have tuned in eagerly on Sunday nights for the tremendous Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance,” but I’m sure we can agree that nothing beats live-action — watching a game without knowing beforehand who wins.
For almost two months, we were lacking these unknown outcomes. But on Monday, that all changed. ESPN announced that they had reached a deal to become the English-language broadcaster for the KBO League and would immediately begin airing six Korean baseball games per week, beginning with the league’s opening day games taking place at 1 a.m. eastern time Tuesday. For those unable (or, very reasonably, unwilling) to watch live, replays would air the following day during more reasonable hours.
This was huge. Due to South Korea’s successful handling of COVID-19, the league was able to start playing games (albeit without fans) and hoped to still complete a 144-game regular-season schedule. It may not be the MLB, but the KBO League is still one of the best baseball leagues in the world. After hearing the news, I immediately looked up all the KBO League logos and decided on my new team.
ESPN and other sources provided helpful information on the backgrounds of each team, power rankings, and MLB comparisons, but I wanted to play it simple and, like your grandmother picking a March Madness bracket, just run with what I thought was the coolest team name and logo.
It didn’t take long for me to choose the team I would, just hours later, claim to have been a fan of for life.
That’s right — the NC Dinos! I mean, how can you resist being a fan of the Dinos? And how could you possibly not fall in love with this mascot?
I eagerly looked up the details of my team, learning that the Dinos started playing in 2013, have made the playoffs five times in their first seven seasons, and reached the World Series-equivalent Korean Series in 2016 behind an unbelievable season from Eric Thames. I watched deep into the night as my Dinos took down the Samsung Lions 4–0 in the first ESPN-televised game in KBO League history, and have continued to follow the team’s hot start to the season.
It’s been great to have sports back, at least in some capacity. But I think what’s made the start to the KBO League season so fun goes beyond that. For most of us, we have our favorite teams, which we’ve probably rooted for since we were kids. Made it’s the hometown team of where you grew up or the team of your favorite player from childhood, but regardless, you have a longstanding allegiance to that team and an established knowledge of the league they play in and their rivals.
Rarely do we get the chance to start following a new league and a new culture that we know next to nothing about. The KBO League has provided us the opportunity to return to those days when we fell in love with sports and to see everything with wide eyes. It’s great for us as fans, and it’s an incredible chance for the KBO League to expand its viewership and grow as a league.
Despite its awful time slot, that first Dinos-Lions game did surprisingly well, more than quadrupling the numbers for the NBA2K League during primetime on ESPN2.
If you haven’t tuned into the KBO League yet, don’t worry. It’s only getting started, and ESPN will continue to air games throughout the entire season. Pick a team and jump in on the fun. When was the last time you had a new favorite team?
Connor Groel is a writer who studies sport management at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as editor of the Top Level Sports publication on Medium, and the host of the Connor Groel Sports podcast. His book, “Sports, Technology, and Madness,” is available now. You can follow Connor on Medium, Facebook, and Twitter, and view his archives at toplevelsports.net.
