Kia Tigers VS Gwangju FC: Which team offers sports fans a bigger bang for the buck?

By William Urbanski

Since time immemorial, the Kia Tigers have completely dominated the professional sports scene in Gwangju, and for good reason. For baseball aficionados and casual fans alike, the games knock it out of the park in terms of entertainment value with their reasonably-priced tickets and innings full of crowd singalongs. Even compared to MLB games in North America, the games are surprisingly fun to attend.

But lately, the new contender has risen to challenge the Kia Tigers’ prominence in our fair city. In the last year or so, Gwangju FC has become the new hot ticket in town, that is, if you can get your hands on one. Watching either of these teams play at their home fields offers tremendous bang for the buck, but it is time to settle once and for all who is the king of Gwangju sports teams.

The Stadiums

When it comes to the stadiums, the Kia Tigers Champions Field is the nicer venue hands down. It is a beautiful, large stadium with plenty of seating and is just overall a nice place to hang out. As well, if you are ever lucky enough to sit in one of the VIP boxes, it is quite the glamourous experience. 

While I have personally never driven to the stadium nor parked there (I have always taken public transportation), it is pretty easy to access, and I have never really had a major problem except for that it can take some time to find a taxi when the game is over.

On the surface, the Gwangju Football Stadium may look a little “makeshift” and even a tad “ramshackle,” but there is more than meets the eye. It is located right beside a giant Lotte Mart, which means it is easy to get food and drinks before the game. This is in stark contrast to Champions Field where, if you want to buy food, you are basically at the mercy of the vendors outside who are happy to sell you a box of cold fried chicken for, like, twenty-five bucks. 

While there is a huge parking lot that surrounds the Gwangju Football Stadium, it gets very busy around game time, so I would recommend parking at least an hour before the game starts (or just parking closer to the World Cup Stadium and walking over). In any case, there is plenty of free parking to be had.

To sum up, while Champions Field is a nicer physical venue, the Gwangju Football Stadium’s location offers some serious advantages.

The Atmosphere

Even though I am not a huge baseball fan, there is a certain ais quoi about going to a Kia Tigers game. During the innings, there are cheerleaders hyping up the crowd, fancy videos and songs to introduce the individual players, and all sorts of general razzmatazz to keep the fans entertained.

This is all well and good, but part of me cannot help but feel that because of the slower pace of baseball in general, the team really has to rely on literal song and dance to keep the fans’ attention. And while the music, videos, and chanting do get the crowd involved, it all starts to wear a little thin by the seventh or eighth inning.

As well, I have noticed that a lot of people at the Kia Tigers games kind of seem to be there just to socialize and are not overly interested in what is happening on the field. So, in some respects, it is very similar to watching any other generic sports game in Korea, like volleyball, a sport which I despise with every fiber of my being.

The Gwangju Football Stadium, while somewhat basic, is laid out to keep the fans close to the action. When you go there, you get the sense that the people watching the game are there because they are really interested in what is going on in the field, which creates an intangible yet palpable atmosphere of excitement in the stands. The game is the main attraction, and it is difficult to not get caught up in it. In addition, since the team has been doing a lot better in recent months, almost every game sells out, which is a big contrast to Kia Tigers games, where there are usually large swaths of empty seats.

Stickball VS Kickball

The point of this article is not to compare the sports of baseball and soccer as everyone already knows soccer is the superior sport in every way. Despite this incontrovertible fact, it is important to appreciate that people like these sports for different reasons.

The action in baseball is much more sporadic, but the game does have a statistical element that a lot of people like. For example, there are entire industries based around gathering baseball statistics, which shows how much people really enjoy the aspect of comparing players based on their stats. 

Soccer is more about appreciating the overall athleticism and skill of the players required as well as the teamwork required to win games. Baseball has its moments that showcase the players’ explosiveness, but hitting a ball with a stick and then running a few meters is nothing compared to the endurance and physical conditioning required to even be a somewhat average soccer player. Soccer players spend ninety minutes running around like mad most of the time, but baseball players spend a good chunk of their games chilling on the bench or catching flies with their mouths open. As well, it is way harder to do anything with your feet than with your hands so, yeah, take that, baseball. 

In the end, the age-old question of baseball vs soccer boils down to individual preference. But when it comes to which sports team offers the more authentic, raw, and genuine sports experience, Gwangju FC is the undisputed King of Gwangju.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

The Author

William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. He has a personal vendetta against the sport of volleyball.