In this blog post, we’ll examine the success strategies of the Heroes, who have grown into a powerhouse representing the KBO League by establishing an independent operational model.
The Beginnings and Growth of a Self-Sustaining Team
Samsung, LG, Lotte, KIA, SSG, Hanwha, KT, and Doosan—all are teams that represent South Korean professional baseball. Most of these teams are backed by large conglomerates and receive financial support from their parent companies because their structure makes it difficult to cover operating expenses solely through ticket sales, ancillary businesses, and broadcasting rights revenue. However, among them, there is one team that chose a slightly different operational approach: the “Nexen Heroes” (hereinafter referred to as the “Heroes”). Nexen Tire, which was a mid-sized company at the time, was not the Heroes’ parent company—unlike the parent companies of other teams—and did not directly subsidize the team’s operating expenses. Instead, it served as the main sponsor through a naming rights agreement, which granted it the right to use the team’s name. In other words, the Heroes were a prime example in the KBO League of a team that built an operational model centered on its own revenue, without direct financial support from a corporate parent. Furthermore, the Heroes established themselves as a powerhouse representing the league by advancing to the postseason for three consecutive years from 2013 to 2015.
This path to self-sufficiency was not smooth from the start. After their founding, the Heroes hovered near the bottom of the standings and were forced to trade key players to other teams in exchange for cash to resolve their financial difficulties. Due to this operational approach, many baseball fans criticized the Heroes, even giving them the bitter nickname “the beggar team.” However, the Heroes steadily improved their roster and achieved the feat of finishing as runners-up in the Korean Series just six years after their founding. At the same time, the team’s financial situation steadily improved, laying the groundwork for self-sufficiency. The Heroes’ operational strategy, which enabled such remarkable growth in a short period, can be summarized into three main areas: diverse sponsorship agreements, systematic player development and support for overseas opportunities, and the active use of advanced data analytics systems.
Diverse Sponsorship Agreements and Player Development Strategies
To secure stable funding, the Heroes actively expanded their sponsorship portfolio, focusing on advertising. Various organizations—including corporations, universities, local governments, and public institutions—sponsored the team in exchange for advertising rights. In particular, Nexen Tire served as the main sponsor by signing a naming rights agreement that granted it the right to use the team’s name. Thanks to these sponsorships, spectators visiting the home stadium could easily see advertisements from various companies throughout the venue, on players’ uniforms, and on their helmets. For example, some seats at Gocheok Sky Dome at the time were even named after sponsor companies. In addition, sponsor companies naturally promoted their brands by collaborating with the team on various events and social contribution activities. This was a prime example of the Heroes’ proactive negotiating skills and revenue-generating capabilities.
To reduce expenses, the Heroes chose to focus on developing players and supporting their moves overseas. Rather than actively joining the competition to sign free agents (FA) worth tens of billions of won, the Heroes opted for a strategy of nurturing their own promising young talent. When high-salaried veteran players were traded, their spots were filled by young players, and the club invested heavily in their development. The club also consistently provided playing time to players who had not been given opportunities at other teams. This environment strongly motivated the players, and they elevated the team’s performance with performances that exceeded expectations. Park Byung-ho and Seo Geon-chang are prime examples of players who grew significantly within this system. To further strengthen its player development framework, the Heroes improved their system by drawing on the models of Major League Baseball (MLB) teams and continued to invest in their minor league facilities and overseas training camps.
The Heroes also actively supported players they had developed in advancing to overseas leagues, such as Major League Baseball. Park Byung-ho and Kang Jung-ho are prime examples of this success. This strategy had two objectives. First, it was to provide outstanding prospects with an incentive to join the Heroes. The club’s image as one that opens the door to opportunities abroad proved highly attractive to top-tier rookie players. Second, the club could expect to achieve strong results through the players’ performances while also generating revenue from transfer fees when they eventually moved overseas. In fact, the Heroes created significant value by discovering and developing outstanding players with minimal investment, and they maintained a system that continued to produce key players for new teams and players heading overseas.
Competitiveness Driven by Advanced Data Analysis
The Heroes’ final strategy was to actively utilize sabermetrics. Baseball is often called a “sport of statistics,” as it accumulates a wider variety of statistics and data compared to other sports. Even for a single pitch thrown by a pitcher, various pieces of information are recorded, such as pitch type, whether it’s a strike or a ball, location, velocity, and spin rate. Sabermetrics is a data analysis technique that utilizes this long-accumulated data to objectively evaluate a player’s ability and uncover hidden value that had previously gone unnoticed. At the time, the South Korean baseball community tended to evaluate players primarily based on traditional metrics such as batting average or earned run average (ERA), or to place great importance on qualitative factors like fighting spirit and tenacity. However, the Heroes broke away from these conventional evaluation methods and actively adopted sabermetrics; based on this approach, they discovered underrated players and achieved outstanding results.
A prime example is Park Byung-ho. While Park Byung-ho is now widely recognized as one of the KBO League’s premier power hitters and a player with Major League experience, at the time the Heroes acquired him via trade, he was viewed more as a minor-league prospect labeled a “failed prospect.” Despite significant skepticism, the Heroes analyzed Park Byung-ho’s power-hitting ability and the characteristics of their home stadium, highly rated his potential, and boldly decided to sign him. As a result, Park Byung-ho performed exceptionally well after the trade, went on to become one of the KBO League’s premier home run hitters, and eventually made his way to Major League Baseball. His success can be seen not as a mere coincidence or the result of personal epiphany, but as an achievement born of thorough data analysis and player valuation.
Furthermore, the Heroes analyzed Major League Baseball data and actively invested in improving their players’ stamina and strength. As a result, they shattered the conventional wisdom that “big-framed batters are slow and at a disadvantage at the plate,” produced several power hitters, and established a unique team identity as the “Home Run Army.” Given the high market value of home run hitters, the Heroes effectively achieved high performance at a low cost without making large-scale player acquisitions. This example demonstrates that data analysis can be a key factor in enhancing competitiveness not only in player scouting and development but also in overall team operations.
The Significance of the Self-Sustaining Team Model
The movie ‘Moneyball’ is based on the true story of the Oakland Athletics, who achieved consistent success on the smallest budget in Major League Baseball. In the film, General Manager Billy Beane used data analysis to uncover the hidden value of players whom no one else had noticed, and based on this, he created a new model of low-cost, high-efficiency team management.
The Heroes also resemble this “Moneyball” philosophy in many ways. They established a self-sustaining operational model that did not rely on direct financial support from a parent company and secured competitiveness even with a limited budget through player development, support for overseas ventures, and the use of sabermetrics. Since then, the Heroes have undergone various changes and faced challenges in their operations, and they currently compete in the KBO League under the name “Kiwoom Heroes.” Although the team’s operational environment and specific strategies have evolved over time, its philosophy of securing competitiveness through efficient management and player development despite limited resources is regarded as a significant case study in South Korean professional baseball.
