Introduction of new regulations → Biomechanics → Fan-friendly marketing...10 teams communicate in earnest, and the results of the winter meeting

Nov 28, 2025

Photo courtesy=KBO

The '2025 KBO Winter Meeting' held at Double Tree by Hilton Pangyo over two days from November 27 to 28 ended successfully.

At the 2025 KBO Winter Meeting, where about 200 executives and employees of KBO and 10 clubs gathered in one place, discussions were held in each sector on the 2026 league operation plan and system, ground management operation improvement plan, procedures and improvement plan for using subsidies for organizations hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and content production and cooperation plan in the rapidly changing digital media environment. In addition, KBO and the front desk of 10 teams had time to communicate on various KBO league issues.

At the league and institutional sector meeting, KBO explained the newly introduced regulations and the progress of applying the rules in the 2025 season, and explained the league operation system in 2026 and the operation plan of the Ulsan City Baseball Team, which is scheduled to participate in the Futures League.

In addition, as the need for a systematic ground management plan in response to climate change has recently been emphasized, MLB stadium management experts Jeff Kim and Greg Jones were invited to discuss effective stadium management with team managers.

Photo courtesy=KBO

A meeting was also held on accounting for organization subsidies hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. They shared information on the 2025 business accounting verification and settlement procedures, the 2026 business plan approval process and details, and shared opinions on the overall support project, including suggestions and improvements related to the performance evaluation of support funds from organizations.

In the marketing sector, we shared the marketing policies and status of each club and discussed strategies for boosting fan-friendly marketing. In addition, they shared major collaborative branding issues between KBO and clubs, examples of KBO and clubs' design and commercialization projects, and insights to strengthen the identity of each club to explore future branding directions.

At the winter meeting, not only sessions by sector, but also experts from various fields were invited to analyze the latest trends inside and outside the baseball community and explore the direction of the KBO league based on this.

Regarding "Bio Mechanics", Mike Latwell, CEO of the U.S. Driveline, Con McAlpine, CEO of Tread Athletics, and pitcher Leif Strom gave a lecture to introduce the current MLB's player training method and development trend and also suggested ways to use it in the KBO league.

Jang Won-chul, a professor of statistics at Seoul National University, introduced the trend and future prospects of AI, which is already playing an innovative role in the overall baseball industry. In the media sector, Hwang Dae-yoon, manager of YouTube sports, introduced effective content planning and marketing utilization through YouTube.

Photo courtesy=KBO

On the 28th (Friday), the second day, Professor Kim Nan-do of the Department of Consumer Studies at Seoul National University, the author of 'It's Youth because it hurts' and 'Trend Korea', gave a lecture on the theme of '2026 Trend Analysis'. The 2025 KBO Winter Meeting was concluded by predicting the latest trends in Korea in 2026 and talking about ways to incorporate them into baseball.

KBO and 10 clubs plan to prepare for the 2026 season based on the discussions at this winter meeting and hold an annual winter meeting to create a sustainable KBO League 10 million audience base.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.