It's possible to transfer players during the season Ulsan Futures Team Official Birth → Sangmu Moves to Northern League
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KBO has been preparing to establish participating clubs with Ulsan Metropolitan City with the aim of enhancing the overall competitiveness of the league and expanding the base. With the final approval of participation in the Futures League at the board meeting, the Ulsan professional baseball team became the first KBO league team to be founded by local governments.
Ulsan Professional Baseball Team should secure a dedicated stadium and training facility to participate in the Futures League, establish a club management corporation, establish a professional front organization, and form a minimum number of players (7 coaching staff and 35 players) by mid-January next year.
The composition of the team can be autonomously selected regardless of the former, age, career, or draft history, such as unnamed KBO draft players, free agents, and foreign players under KBO regulations. In addition, it was decided to allow the selection of players who did not join domestic professional clubs after overseas expansion. For foreign players, up to four players can be registered, and the total amount of annual salary, down payment, options, and transfer fees (tax excluded) can be contracted within $100,000 per player. In the case of domestic players, the minimum annual salary is 30 million won per year, the same as the KBO regulations.
Players from the Ulsan professional baseball team can also transfer to KBO clubs during the season.
Among domestic players, players or foreign players with a history of participating in the KBO draft can be transferred to KBO clubs during the transferable period (from the day after the end of the postseason to July 31 of the following year). Players who do not have a history of participation in the KBO draft can be transferred after going through the KBO draft. The maximum number of players who can be transferred to the KBO club during a season is five, and the transfer fee cannot exceed the annual salary of the player.
The team composition of the existing league will also change according to the participation of the Ulsan professional baseball team in the Futures League.
Due to its geographical location, Ulsan will be incorporated into the southern league, and the Sangmu Baseball Team (located in Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do), which belonged to the southern league, will move to the northern league. Accordingly, the Northern League will consist of six teams each: Hanwha, LG, SSG, Doosan, Goyang, Sangmu, and the Southern League will consist of KT, NC, Lotte, Samsung, KIA, and Ulsan.
The 2026 Futures League will open on March 20 with a total of 696 games, 116 per team, and the schedule will be announced later.
Meanwhile, KBO will continue to push for the improvement of facilities in some underdeveloped stadiums with each club to revitalize and industrialize the Futures League, and increase the organization of night games to encourage local residents to watch games, promote paid viewing, and expand broadcasts (tentative name 'Monday Night Baseball").
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
