{"id":100338,"date":"2026-07-27T09:56:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/100338\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:56:21","slug":"korean-express-park-chan-ho-has-become-another-pioneer-in-the-u-s-major-league-baseball-mlb-he","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/100338\/","title":{"rendered":"“Korean Express” Park Chan-ho has become another pioneer in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB). He.."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Park \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 Park Chan-ho (left) is taking a photo with John Fisher, Hollywood actor Ken Jeong and Mark Badane (from the second left) at a press conference for strategic partnership between the investment consortium “Team 61” and Major League Athletics at Westin Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 27th. Yonhap News Agency
\n“Korean Express” Park Chan-ho has become another pioneer in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB). He became the first Korean investor in MLB by investing a total of $70 million (about 102.7 billion won) in 125-year-old club Athletics.<\/p>\n

Team 61, an investment consortium led by Park Chan-ho, announced at a press conference for the strategic partnership between Team 61, Athletics held at Westin Seoul Parnas in Gangnam, Seoul, on the 27th that it has decided to invest a total of $70 million. Team 61 explained, “The $55 million investment has been completed so far, and the remaining $15 million will be finalized after MLB approval.”\n<\/p>\n

This is the first time a Korean has invested directly in an MLB club. Park Chan-ho will join the team as a senior advisor to owner John Fisher and consult on player development and Asian strategy establishment and promotion. In fact, he becomes one of the co-owners.\n<\/p>\n

The Athletics is a founding American League club founded in 1901, and is considered one of the most prestigious teams in the tradition that represents MLB. He has won nine World Series titles and 15 American League titles, and is also well known as the club where former general manager Billy Bean’s “Moneyball” was realized, especially by advancing small market teams to the postseason several times with data-based management strategies. Athletics is preparing for a new leap forward with aggressive investment, investing $1.75 billion (about 2.56 trillion won) to build a new 33,000-seat baseball stadium ahead of its relocation to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2028.\n<\/p>\n

In the process, Park Chan-ho participated as a shareholder of Athletics through an investment consortium. Park Chan-ho went through seven clubs, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, with 124 MLB wins during his active career, but he never had a relationship with the Athletics.\n<\/p>\n

\"\uc0ac\uc9c4\uc124\uba85\"\/ \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300
\nPark Chan-ho said at a press conference, “It’s been my long-time dream to become a major league owner.” Explaining the background of the partnership with Athletics, he said, “I personally tried to participate in the stake of other teams such as San Diego. However, it was difficult for clubs with a strong fan base to participate in the stake. Then, when I heard that the Athletics were moving to Las Vegas after leaving Oakland, where they were based, I met (owner John Fisher) through personal connections, he said. “In many history, the Athletics have been a team constantly challenging new possibilities. In the process, I wanted to create a way for more children to dream and for Korean baseball to move forward to the wider world together. That’s why I chose another new start (as an investor in the MLB club).”<\/p>\n

Hollywood stars Ken Jeong and Daniel Dae-Team participated in the Team 61 consortium, where Park Chan-ho invested in Athletics. Initially, group BTS (BTS) member Suga was expected to participate, but Park Chan-ho said, “There are still some aspects that are difficult to mention. There are still procedures left,” he said. Team 61 will secure about 3% of its stake in Athletics through this investment.\n<\/p>\n

Park Chan-ho said, “I’m not at the level of management, but as a senior adviser, I’ll exert my influence on fostering scouts and pitchers and building a new fandom for the club,” adding, “This project is not just about acquiring a stake in the baseball team, but I think it’s an investment in the future growth potential of Korean baseball.”\n<\/p>\n

“I want to serve as a bridge between Korean players and fans, companies and major leagues, and future generations. The true meaning of this project,” he stressed. At the same time, he also presented various blueprints for the future, including Korean players joining Athletics, exchange matches with Korean teams, and youth baseball programs. Ken Jeong, a Hollywood actor who joined Team 61 consortium with Park Chan-ho, said, “Through my investment, I will be able to have the right to operate hot dog stands in the new stadium. I’ll eat hot dogs to my stomach,” he said, laughing at the crowd.\n<\/p>\n

Athletics owner John Fisher, who was present at the press conference, said, “Baseball has an amazing power to connect people beyond culture, language, and generation differences. “This strategic partnership is the proof of that power,” he said. “Just as Park Chan-ho paved a new way for Korean and Asian players in the United States, I believe this partnership, which leads Koreans to invest in major league clubs, will also create a positive impact for a long time.” Athletics President Mark Badane also said, “I watched the KBO League game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium the day before, and I want to benchmark the passion of Korean baseball fans. I want to bring that passion to the new Las Vegas stadium,” he said, drawing a positive future.\n<\/p>\n

[Reporter Kim Jihan]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 Park Chan-ho (left) is taking a photo with John Fisher, Hollywood actor Ken Jeong and Mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51915,32508,51913,171,12706,11271,5518,49997,51914],"class_list":["post-100338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","tag-american-league","tag-athletics","tag-consortium","tag-korean","tag-las-vegas","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-partnerships","tag-press-conferences","tag-san-diego"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}