Korean Sports Match Fixing Scandals continue

Well last year Korean soccer was dealt a huge blow with news of its match fixing and this year Korean volleyball and baseball were hit by similar, though less wide ranging match fixing. As far as volleyball was concerned, this event led people to ask questions such as "we have a volleyball league?". For the Korean Baseball Association however, this is serious as the KBO is arguably the fastest growing league in the world. It set a record for attendance last year and is already looking at more growth for 2012. Korea also has the Asian Series Championship for the first time and is hosting said competition this year in Seoul. While it's only two pitchers playing for Seoul based LG Twins, it's serious and the KBO is treating it as such. Both players have received lifetime bans from the KBO, which may well end their careers. To be fair to the KBO this is the first such circumstance since the league began in 1982 but when one looks at what has happened to the Taiwan based Chinese Professional Baseball League with match fixing leading to the demise of four of the eight pro teams and attendance down to the 3000 or so a game on average (from 10,000 in the early 2000's) one can see how match fixing can and will destroy a league's reputation. Also, as the league crashes major players will move out. While the best of the best will end up in MLB regardless, many Korean players have had solid careers here and up and comers can expect the same thing. In fact most KBO players opt to stay in Korea unless they can get a major league contract in the States or the NPB League in Japan. In Taiwan any player that can get in to MLB or the NPB does, even with minor league contracts.

The KBO is also unique in that, unlike soccer and basketball, fans prefer the local game to the overseas leagues. Soccer fans in Daegu are avid Manchester United or Real Madrid fans but give Daegu FC a miss. The NBA get more television time than the KBA. This is not so with the KBO. While overseas teams that have or had prominent Korean players get some interest (LA Dodgers and Cleveland Indians of MLB or the Yomiuri Giants of NPB) the real interest is in watching Daegu based Samsung Lions thrash Busan based Lotte Giants. Match fixing could change all that (it did in Taiwan, where today the MLB and NPB get massive television time).

I do hope this is limited to two young idiots and I'm glad to see the KBO moving so quickly to stamp that sort of thing out.