HT to Naver sports.
The Seoul Heroes have found another sponsor. This franchise has been frought with trouble since Hyundai dropped the sponsorship and the team relocated from Suwon to Seoul. Since losing Woori Tobacco Co. in 2008 and going without a sponsor. in 2009, the Seoul Heroes will be represent Nexen Tire Company next year. Also, hell freezes over. I really can't believe the KBO didn't botch these negotiations. Like they did with STX...and KT before settling on a shady investment company(something called Centennial Investment) to "sponsor" the team. The plan was that Centennial wanted to buy the sponsorship as an investment and sell it to the highest bidder. They had a deal in place with Woori, but Woori backed out after Centennial failed to make its franchise payments to the KBO. It looks like they've found a partner in Nexen.
I have no idea what this will mean for the uni's or the team name. I just hope they don't do anything goofy. The idea of seeing the Samsung Lions take on the Nexen Tires doesn't sit too well. The Nexen Heroes? That's probably what we'll end up with. Not bad, but I think we can do better. If it were me, I'd go with alliteration. Make it the Nexen Knights or something.
4 comments:
I'm hoping the Heroes keep the H logo, but update their main emblem. The H is unique and the colors aren't bad. I'm just glad they found a legit sponsor.
I wish they'd move to Yangsan, where the company is located.
Wasn't one of the stipulations to Centennial getting the rights that the team name remain constant for 3 years at a time? Yet they haven't been able to keep the same name for more than 1 year so far.
When all of this went down, I thought that there were some strange back-room deals going on behind the scenes. There hasn't been a single aspect about the whole Heroes' history that hasn't seemed like a scam of some kind or other, where the team gets nothing and somebody (Centennial?) is making out like a bandit.
This group does seem like a legitimate, well respected organization. But I'll hold my final judgment until after I see if they invest in the team and facilities or not. Neither Centennial nor Woori seemed interested in doing either.
Westbay-san,
If I understand the KBO correctly, the league owns the teams and sells sponsorships to willing companies. As best I know, none of the teams are actually OWNED by their sponsors. The teams only exist to provide advertising for the sponsors. That's why Woori backed out of the deal when Centennial failed to make a "franchise" payment.
I'm not sure about the 3-year stipulation. I believe Woori originally signed a 3-year deal.
Centennial doesn't seem to be legitimate. I still haven't been able to figure out exactly what they do or invest in. As far as I can tell, the only investment they hold is the naming rights to a KBO franchise.
The existence of the Heroes has been a scam of sorts. I don't really care. I wanted the league to stay intact and it did. The new sponsorship is another step in the right direction.
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