Korean Basketball League

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The best things in Korea are nearly free! If traveling to Seoul between October and March then grab the green metro line #2 to the Sports Complex station to pickup a schedule for one of the hometown teams, SK Knights or Samsung Thunder. Both teams play out of the same arena, Jamsil Student Gymnasium.

The gym built in the early 1970’s holds 7,500 people without a bad seat in the house. The farthest seat off the court is thirty-rows back. About the same distance as a club suite at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado! Because the seating is limited arrive early to acquire better seats. Game times are usually either 3:00 pm or 5:00 pm; occasionally they will host a late game at 7:00 pm.

Once off the subway, at the station locate exit number eight and climb the two flights of stairs. Turn right and walk two hundred yards to the ticket box. Unfortunately it’s a gamble if the agent speaks English. However pointing at the map works well. Tickets start with standing room at 4,000 won ($3.62) and climb up to courtside seats at 28,000 won ($25.37) including a beverage and a slice of pizza! Cannot get courtside seats, but interested in food included options then buy seats in the Colpop Chicken, Krispy Kreme and Pocari Sweat seating areas; priced 18,000 to 22,000 won ($16.31 to $19.93). Other seating sections are available as well from 6,000 to 12,000 won ($5.43 to $10.87).

Each of the ten teams in the Korean Basketball League is allowed to acquire two foreign players whom usually turn out to be American. Last Friday night we watched the 6th seed SK Knights host the #1 Busan Sonic Boom. Unfortunately for us in Korea timing is everything and we arrived ten minutes before game time. The agent explained in broken English they only had single seats left or “standing room only.” Opting to watch the game we paid the 4,000 won but found two nosebleed seats in section 314 near our standing location.
With consistent play on both ends of the floor by Sonic Boom players Sang-Oh, Young-Jin and Charles Rhodes they went into halftime with a seventeen-point lead. Several times in the second half the Knights sliced into the large lead built up but struggled with keeping close. On two occasions American power forward Terrence Leather brought down the house with two gloriously gifted rebounding dunks! However the afternoon belonged to the entire Sonic Boom squad pulling in their twentieth win of the season with a score of 83 to 69 points.

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Photos

Jamsil Student Gymnasium
Home of the SK Knights basketball team

Tip-off
versus Mobis Phoebus