Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, wearing a Lotte Giants jacket, walks into Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul to watch the Major League Baseball season-opening game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in this March 2024 photo. Newsis

Fans of teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) have recently begun assessing the financial soundness of major conglomerates, similar to corporate research analysts.

This shift in focus was sparked by an unconfirmed online post that circulated at the beginning of the new year, which claimed that an unexpected team would announce in January that it would begin the 2025 KBO League season under new ownership.

After multiple baseball commentators reacted to the rumor, fans began speculating and naming various companies, suggesting that one of them might sell its baseball team.

Fans added Lotte to the list of potential candidates that might sell their baseball team, the Giants, following the group's offer to use Lotte World Tower as collateral in December. This move came as the company began selling off its affiliates to help rescue its struggling petrochemical and construction divisions. The conglomerate has also had to reassure investors, due to the circulation of rumors that it would declare a moratorium in light of the liquidity crisis.

NCSOFT is also among the rumored candidates, given the requests from its shareholders to sell the Dinos to improve the gaming firm's financial soundness.

Given Doosan's failed attempt last year to reorganize the governance of its affiliates, following years of efforts to improve financial stability by unloading assets, the Bears baseball team was also added to the list of potential candidates for sale.

KT CEO Kim Young-shub watches the Korea Baseball Organization postseason game between the KT Wiz and the NC Dinos at the Suwon KT Wiz Park in Gyeonggi Province, in this November 2023 photo. Newsis

KT has been rumored to be considering the sale of its baseball team, KT Wiz, since the mobile carrier appointed Kim Young-shub as CEO in 2023.

Kim, who worked for nearly four decades at LG, the conglomerate behind the Twins, implemented a massive workforce reduction at KT and its subsidiaries last year to streamline its business structure.

Samsung is another company that has been rumored to be considering the sale of its baseball team.

The owner of the Lions is viewed as indifferent when it comes to the fates of its professional baseball, football, volleyball and basketball teams, particularly since management of these teams was handed over in 2014 to Cheil Worldwide, a subsidiary responsible for advertising and marketing.

In 2023, Suwon Samsung Bluewings was also relegated from K League 1 and failed to return to the top tier of the country's football league the following year.

Politics is seen as another reason for Samsung's indifference to sports marketing, given that its chairman was sentenced to prison in 2017 due to the company's offering of horses to former equestrian Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of Choi Seo-won, a confidant of impeached former President Park Geun-hye, who was accused of meddling in state affairs.

However, the abovementioned companies have dismissed the rumors as groundless.

The Lotte Giants said that the team is preparing for the upcoming season. KT Sports CEO Lee Ho-sik also dismissed the rumor in a media interview, emphasizing the KT chief's frequent visits to the baseball park and basketball court to encourage the players.

NCSOFT's management has refused its shareholders' calls to sell its baseball club. In November, Doosan repurchased Bears Park in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, its farm team's facility, which had been sold in 2020.

Until the beginning of the new season in March, it remains to be seen whether all 10 teams in the league will remain under their current owners.

Four years ago, SK unexpectedly announced the sale of the Wyverns to Shinsegae, which later renamed the baseball team to the Landers. The 135.2 billion won ($94 million) deal was disclosed in January 2021, just a couple of days after an internet user posted online that "a nuclear bomb" would explode in the KBO League.