The ML Secretariat requested the Seoul Metropolitan Government to improve the environment of Gocheok Dome. The Seoul Metropolitan Government accepted the request of the ML Secretariat as it judged that Gocheok Dome needs to be repaired.
The biggest change is that grass has been redone. Gocheok Dome, which marks its ninth anniversary, has completely replaced artificial turf (11,493 square meters) in cooperation with ground keepers at ML Stadium to match shock absorption and flatness.
"While cooperating with ML, we agreed to set the shock absorption rate to 115 and reached 102," a source at the corporation said in a telephone interview with Sports Seoul on Sunday. "It is close to ML's natural turf (100), which is a significant decrease from the previous 175."
The thing that bothered me the most was the flatness work. It took three weeks. I borrowed a few pieces of equipment called "laser grazers" in Korea and managed to match them over and over again. The color of the grass has also changed from monochromatic to light green and dark green two-tone. The move came after ML Secretariat and others pointed out that the color of the grass is monotonous during due diligence in June last year.
The team also improved lighting conditions that players pointed out as dark. It replaced floodlights of metal halide (MH) with high efficiency eco-friendly LED lights, improving lighting conditions. The previous flat illumination was 3,000 lux, but increased it by 500 lux to 3,500 lux. The figure is much stronger than 2,000 lux, which is the standard for outdoor ballpark lighting. It also renovated locker rooms and restaurants used by players.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also visited Gocheok Dome on the 12th to inspect the site.
Mayor Oh said, "ML and Korean baseball exchanges have begun in earnest. We hope that the Seoul Series will be held every year by playing this game well," adding, "As we have completely remodeled from grass to lighting and locker rooms, we expect all players to perform well in their best condition." Earlier in January, Mayor Oh met with ML Charlie Hill, vice president of international business, to discuss continuing the Seoul Series.
Gocheok Dome has some 16,700 seats. Tickets for all six games are sold out. About 100,000 people are expected to gather. The ML secretariat has decided to deploy some 400 safety personnel at the stadium. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also plans to deploy some 150 safety personnel in cooperation with Guro-gu and Guro Police Station to prevent safety accidents.
Safety management has emerged as a hot topic as overseas fans such as Japan and the U.S. are also planning to visit Gocheok Dome. Mayor Oh said, "As it is an event that attracts many visitors at once, we will make sure to manage crowds when entering and leaving the stadium to make a perfect game without safety issues."
In order to solve the scalping problem, the government will also carefully inspect ID cards. Because only Coupang paying members can purchase tickets to the stadium, it will be difficult to enter through scalping. There was also a post on an online used site saying that tickets worth 200,000 won are sold for 500,000 won. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency plans to crack down on scalping tickets that may be possible at the scene.
The showdown between Kiwoom and the Los Angeles Dodgers (12 p.m.) and Team Korea and San Diego (7 p.m.) will take place on Saturday. LG and San Diego (12 p.m.) will face off against Team Korea and the Los Angeles Dodgers (7 p.m.). The LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres will have two ML opening games from Friday to Sunday