Baseball Dream Park / Provided by Daejeon City Hall

A brand new stadium set to open in the central city of Daejeon next year will host the 2025 All-Star Game in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), the league office announced Monday.

The KBO said it inked an agreement with the metropolitan government of Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul, to work together to ensure successful staging of the midsummer festivities next year at the new home of the Hanwha Eagles. The All-Star Game is scheduled for July 12.

The Eagles played all of their 39 seasons at Hanwha Life Eagles Park, which opened in 1964 and had been the oldest stadium in the KBO. It had also been the smallest in the league with a capacity of just 12,000. The Eagles will now move into the tentatively named Daejeon Baseball Dream Park, which will have about 20,000 seats.

In 2024, the Eagles set a KBO single-season sellout record with 47, despite missing the postseason for the sixth consecutive year.

"Everyone knows how much our people in Daejeon love baseball, and we're extremely happy to host the All-Star Game," Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo said after the signing ceremony at the city hall. "We will make sure this will be more than just a baseball game. We want to host a baseball festival."

KBO Commissioner Heo Koo-youn thanked Daejeon for its support and said the league will work closely with the city for a successful All-Star week. (Yonhap)