Goyang Day One Jumpers expelled from KBL after failing to pay players

Basketball

Published: 17 Jun. 2023, 08:51 Updated: 18 Jun. 2023, 18:26

Goyang Day One Jumpers expelled from KBL after failing to pay players

The Goyang Day One Jumpers, then the Goyang Carrot Jumpers, celebrate during a KBL game against Daegu Kogas Pegasus at Goyang Gymnasium in Goyang, Gyeonggi on Jan. 9. [YONHAP]

The Goyang Day One Jumpers were expelled from the Korean Basketball League on Friday after failing to resolve financial difficulties that have troubled the 27-year-old club since August last year.

The Jumpers became the first-ever team to be expelled in the 26 years since the KBL was founded in 1997 — a year after the Jumpers were founded in 1996 — after failing to pay their players overdue salary and resolve financial problems by the deadline on Thursday.

The KBL’s decision came after the organization judged that the Goyang club is unable to function as a club. The organization’s standing rules stipulate that it can expel a club that cannot function as a proper team through 75 percent of approval from the general assembly.

Better known to many fans under the name "Orions," the Jumpers are one of the oldest teams in Korean professional basketball. Founded as the Dongyang Confectionary Basketball Team in 1996, the team went through a string of Orions names — Daegu Tongyang Orions, Daegu Orions, Goyang Orions and, most famously, Goyang Orion Orions — before being sold last year.

The Jumpers’ financial issues have spiraled out of control since that sale. The problems stem from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which until earlier this year was the parent company of current owner Day One Asset Management. Shipbuilding company DSME is also facing financial difficulties.

Those problems only worsened when the team announced that it was parting ways with sponsor Carrot Insurance. The reason for the termination of that deal was unclear, although possibly because owner Day One Asset Management has been looking for a larger sponsor or a company interested in buying a stake of the team.

The Jumpers, however, failed to find a different sponsor, which resulted in the club being unable to pay the players their salary for four months.

“Rather than resolving its financial problems like paying its players overdue salaries, Day One’s consistently irresponsible and spurious attitude undermined the league’s confidence and stability,” KBL president Kim Hee-ok said on Friday at the KBL Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. “We are sorry for those fans that passionately cheered for the team.”

KBL president Kim Hee-ok announces the Goyang Day One Jumpers' expulsion from the league at the KBL Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul on Friday. [NEWS1]

The expulsion of the Jumpers leaves the KBL with nine teams.

Unless a different company buys the Jumpers, the league will remain at nine teams for the 2023-24 KBL season. Should that happen, the 18 players currently on the books with the Goyang club will join different teams through a special draft system.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]