As the novel coronavirus (Corona 19), which first occurred in Korea in January 2020, entered the era of endemic (converted to an endemic disease), the professional sports world, which had suffered from many restrictions, was in the past, a daily viewing culture trying to get back to

The hard work 메이저사이트is definitely the frontline staff (front desk) of each professional sports team. Those who play the role of ‘shadow’ in the field did not hesitate to share the pain, such as returning wages by crying and eating mustard during Corona 19.

Compared to major European professional league clubs, which reduced the number of employees due to loss of admission tickets, sponsorship income, and club product revenue due to a decrease in the number of games, it was better than that. It was all the more appreciated in the still deformed structure where the wages of the players account for 50-70% of the total club operating expenses.

In the case of professional football, corporate clubs Ulsan Hyundai and Busan I-Park returned part of their wages, and civil club Suwon FC also returned them by donating to Suwon City, its hometown. Higher organizations such as the Korea Football Association and the Korea Professional Football Federation also participated. In the case of the professional league, it is known that the return was compensated as a bonus.

▲ The FC Seoul-Daegu FC match where the power of singer Lim Young-woong was realized ⓒ Korea Professional Football Federation

▲ The FC Seoul-Daegu FC match where the power of singer Lim Young-woong was realized ⓒ Korea Professional Football Federation

At the time, in the eyes of the club return standard, public criticism poured out when a plan to use it for team operating expenses through partial return of wages came out. What is the meaning of using a small amount of money for a team that earns a salary that sounds like ‘billion’? There was also a question mark as to whether it was passing the pain on to employees without a labor union.

Now, three years later, professional football is in a booming period. Looking at the numbers alone, a rosy era has arrived. By the 12th round, the total number of spectators was 731,297 with an average of 10,157. This is the first time that the average number of spectators has exceeded 10,000 based on paid spectators in the 12 club system.

In 2019, before Corona, the total number of spectators was 1,827,061, and the average spectator was 8,013. If the current level is maintained until the end of the season, it is possible to achieve the dream of reaching 2 million spectators alone in the K League 1 for the first time in history. It is more so in that it shows a different appearance compared to the flow of previous years, when the number of spectators plummeted after 30% of the season. There is no need to combine K-League 2 and total spectators.

In the case of Daejeon Hana Citizen, the average number of spectators was 2,271 and 45,411 out of 20 total spectators in K-League 2 last year. This year, 81,557 in 6 games and 13,593 per game are enjoying the promotion effect. Gwangju FC also had an average of 1,308 with 26,154 in 20 games, but this year it increased nearly fourfold to 24,096 in 6 games and an average of 4,016. FC Seoul, which had the effect of visiting singer Lim Young-woong, gathered 45,007 people, the most in all professional sports since Corona 19, only against Daegu FC.

However, if the staff make unconditional sacrifices in the field, it is useless to achieve 2 million spectators. As of February 2019, the number of K-League club secretariat employees and the number of employees as of February this year are similar or only slightly increased. This is true when looking at the number of employees excluding high-ranking positions such as CEO, general manager, secretary general, and general manager based on the registration standard of the Professional Football Federation.

Gangwon FC 24 → 33 (28 people minus 5 interns)

Daegu FC 14 → 17

FC Seoul 32 (4 people in the youth development FOS team at the time) → 31 (excluding female volleyball)

Suwon Samsung 18 →17 people

Ulsan Hyundai 19 people → 22 people (21 people minus 1 intern)

Incheon United 21 people → 25 people (including personnel due to new clubhouse construction)

Jeonbuk Hyundai 17 people → 20 people (including personnel due to position demotion)

Jeju United 12 → 14

Pohang Steelers 17 → 16

Suwon FC 11 (2019 2nd division) → 14

Gwangju FC 10 (2019 2nd division) → 10

Daejeon Hana Citizen (2019 2nd division) ) 12 → 22 (19 people excluding 3 interns)

▲ Behind attracting large audiences and supporting the athletes, there are front-line employees called the front desk. ⓒKorea Professional Football Federation

▲ Behind attracting large audiences and supporting the athletes, there are front-line employees called the front desk. ⓒKorea Professional Football Federation

Most employees do at least three or four basic tasks. In the case of small clubs, there are employees who do more than 10 things. There are many cases in which, after working too much, they came in as an intern and hoped to get a full-time job, but then gave up their ‘dream of front desk’ without taking on the challenge of getting a full-time job on their own.

In the case of Suwon FC, Gwangju, and Daejeon, they were in the K-League 2 (second division) in 2019. In a situation where four years have passed, Daejeon is all about a drastic increase in staff. In the case of Daejeon, the situation changed 180 degrees when Hana Financial Group became the parent company.

The fact that Daejeon has significantly increased the number of people compared to other clubs is interpreted as business expansion following the acquisition of the citizen club by Hana Financial Group in 2020. Daejeon is considering evolving into a general sports club. It is gaining popularity by opening sports climbing and other activities. Naturally, it increased by hiring employees who could do the job.

Gangwon is the opposite. Of the employees from four years ago, 11 are still working this year. All others are new or experienced. This means that 13 people have retired and 22 people have joined. It’s not like there was a relegation in 4 years, so what the hell happened to the secretariat staff change so much. The most realistic analysis is that it reflects the uniqueness of being a city and provincial club that is affected by elections such as general and local elections. It has already been announced that the management of the club will change depending on your thoughts when the head of the club changes.

Not long ago, Suwon FC general manager Choi Soon-ho even posted an apology to fans and the media, which is also a problem due to the lack of staff. It was not a business team, and it was something that should not happen. Currently, the employee in charge of the public relations team is concurrently serving as the head of the power reinforcement team, which is responsible for reinforcing the team. It is not strange that the publicity standards or characteristics are not properly met, so it is confusing. The employee, who was an employee of the PR team last year, even managed the women’s team, Suwon FC Women.

Last year, in the case of Team A, interns were selected through a national support project. It is said that at the end of the six-month period, the staff persuaded the club representative, saying, “Shouldn’t we go out after experiencing a full season?” It is said that there was no problem even if the club paid for the rest of the wages at its own expense.

However, it is said that the intern did not accept whether it would have been better to fill it with an intern. Eventually, new interns came along and the staff had to spend their time teaching from scratch. Ironically, the intern, whose period was not extended, announced a new start by joining a conglomerate affiliate this year. Even if he didn’t become a ‘workplace that makes dreams come true’, he would have liked to have been a ‘workplace that provided experiences that allowed him to develop dreams’, but he couldn’t be an example. It was more regrettable that he was a club that prospective fronts envied.

Team B’s public relations staff disappears on the day of the game without providing information according to the situation at the reporter’s seat. When he inquires about his whereabouts, he says that he plays a role in controlling the electronic display board. When a situation occurs on the ground, the reporters call the professional league because there are no on-site staff, and so on.

Some staff even manage the box office and do not know the situation inside the stadium. When asked, “How bad is that player’s injury?”, “I heard that the national team’s coaching staff came to the stadium today. Where are you watching the game?” It has to come.

It can only be said that this is the result of the misunderstanding that the highest level of management regards public relations and marketing as the same concept. Since there is a shortage of staff, public relations and marketing are put in the same department and utilized. Employees who suffer from all kinds of work do not have physical strength, so their work efficiency does not rise. In the end, they leave the industry, and a new person emerges and learns from the beginning. Or, there are cases in which veteran employees are assigned to the wrong department, saying that they are out of their sight, and spend only their time. At least I should have created a circulation structure to teach and nurture my juniors through experience, but that was not the case.