The baseball team, which used to be a Samsung affiliate, has been in the top ranks since the launch of the KBO League, and has advanced to the 17th Korean Series, the most in Korea, and won the most integrated championship for four consecutive years. Samsung, which left the old Daegu Citizens’ Stadium and moved its home stadium to Daegu Samsung Lions Park, expected a bigger tomorrow. However, since then, Samsung has entered a dark age, recording 99688, which is the same ranking as its password. Although it briefly played a first-place match and a postseason in 2021, it failed to shake off the image of a low-ranking team by ranking seventh and eighth again.
The Samsung Lions ranked out of place compared to their reputation in the past, but the situation in the baseball team is rather better. Let’s take a deeper look at the crisis in Samsung’s sports team.
Samsung Sports Group at the Bottom of All Leagues
The fall of 2023 is the biggest shock in the Korean professional sports world, the collapse of Suwon Samsung, a prestigious K-League club. Suwon Samsung, which founded Samsung Electronics as its parent company in December 1995, has been active in the K-League since 1996, and has always been at the top of the league table and mobilization of spectators. Although it was a prestigious team that won four league titles and five FA Cups, it also topped the League Cup or the Asian stage, it had to experience the lowest rank and demotion for the first time since its foundation.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the men’s volleyball team that won eight championships, more than the soccer team, also failed to avoid the fall. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which has moved away from the championship game after finishing second in the 2014-15 season after winning the championship for seven consecutive years, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which ranked the bottom for the first time in the 2020-21 season, also ranked last last last season, overshadowing its past reputation.
The situation is even more disastrous for the team. The men’s basketball team, Seoul Samsung, also became a powerhouse by winning two titles in the 2000s, but it has already collapsed into a team that is more familiar with low ranking teams. The Samsung Lions is the only Samsung sports team that has never ranked last.
Samsung of Cheil Industries has less money?
The first thing that is often considered as the reason for the collapse of Samsung Sports Group is the transfer to Cheil Worldwide. Suwon Samsung, where Samsung Electronics mainly operated in the spring of 2014, became a subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide, and basketball and volleyball teams went under Cheil Worldwide in turn. In early 2016, Samsung Lions, which had its last remaining pride, changed its position from an independent corporation to a subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide.
Changes in governance and the aftermath of the transfer of positions between affiliates will inevitably make tangible and intangible changes in the operation of each club. There may not be much difference in the size of investment, but changes in freedom of investment and aggression are bound to be revealed. It is hard to say that it is a coincidence that in professional sports, where the structure of investment and performance is directly linked to these changes, it has led to a decline in performance.
However, the baseball team has a slightly different situation. It is hard to find the Samsung Lions, which were big players in the FA market in the past, but there is no difference in investment size from other clubs. In terms of the average annual salary of last year’s players, Samsung ranks second after SSG Landers, the winner of the 2022 season. In other words, it is inevitable to say that they spent enough money to spend.
What’s been reduced is not “investment” but “investment”
Looking at the baseball team’s situation, which is difficult to say that it is not enough in terms of the size of money, it is possible to analyze various reasons why the name Samsung has weakened at some point. It is also persuasive that the recruitment of promising players by new clubs and the efforts of challengers who introduced the new system were burdensome to the existing strong teams. In addition, the fact that the gap in the team’s power has increased along with the repeated wins will also be a reason.
However, the biggest reason Samsung was sidelined in the fall is the determination of the team and the will of its parent company, which it has become accustomed to at some point? With no more big applause for the value of winning, the team’s performance will inevitably be affected. The competitiveness of a team that openly says winning is not every goal will inevitably weaken.
As interest in the parent company has also decreased, the power of investment has become difficult to compare with the past. Even if the size is similar, the boldness of investment is bound to decrease. Samsung’s recent performance is somewhat understandable in the circumstances of other teams that resulted from the visit to the baseball stadium by the owners of the parent company who were eager to win.
The baseball team, which has shown strong commitment to drastic change for the first time in many years, appointed Lee Jong-yeol, a former outside and player. He is even from LG Twins, a rival team in the electronics industry. The result of such a bold attempt will be seen, and the Samsung Lions’ report card for 2024 may be a measure of value for the entire Samsung Sports Team.