Daejeon plans 3,000-seat expansion at Hanwha Eagles' ballpark as games keep selling out

DAEJEON — Daejeon Metropolitan City government plans to add about 3,000 seats to the Hanwha Eagles' home baseball stadium, where 41 of the team's 51 home games through Aug. 11 sold out.

The expansion would raise the number of sellable seats at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark from about 17,000 to roughly 20,000 by March 2028.

Daejeon said Monday that it included 500 million won ($362,000) for design work in its proposed second supplementary budget for 2026, which is awaiting city council approval. It has also begun preparations for the urban-planning changes, traffic impact assessment, design work, building permits and other reviews required for the project.

"The first base side of outfield is the only area where expansion is currently possible," a Daejeon city official said. "We plan to cover most of the construction cost with the city budget while seeking to have the Hanwha Eagles shoulder part of it."

The city expects the infinity pool and lawn seating to remain. The exact expansion site, seating layout and scale will be settled during the design process.

Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong met Hanwha Eagles CEO Park Jong-tae at City Hall on Tuesday to discuss the expansion and future cooperation between the city and club.

"We expect the design and administrative procedures to take about a year," a city official said. "We are planning roughly six months of construction from October 2027 through March 2028."

Hanwha sells about 17,000 seats for KBO games even though the ballpark's original design called for 20,007. That is fewer than the 23,750 seats available for games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul and the 20,500 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju. 

"Installing all 20,007 seats in the original design would have made the seating too dense, so we reduced the number," the Eagles said. "We added lawn seating in the outfield so fans could watch games and eat more comfortably, while tables installed at some infield seats also reduced the number to 17,000."

KBO figures through Aug. 11 show that 260 of 505 games leaguewide, or 51.49 percent, sold out. Hanwha led all clubs in sellouts and filled 98.4 percent of available seats over that period, second only to the Samsung Lions at 99.3 percent.

Hanwha sold out 62 of their 73 home games last season, the highest total in the league.

Heo and then-Mayor Lee Jang-woo both campaigned on expanding the ballpark during the June 3 local election. Heo, the Democratic Party candidate, defeated Lee of the People Power Party and took office July 1.

"I will work closely with the club to move the expansion forward quickly so that more Daejeon residents can enjoy Hanwha Eagles home games," Heo wrote on Facebook. 

BY KIM BANG-HYUN [[email protected]]