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Multi-year contracts that were only available to free agents in professional baseball are now available to all players. Just like in the major leagues, a new era in which you can sign long-term contracts with your team even before becoming a free agent is opening up.
Correspondent Lee Seong-hoon.
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Until now, in domestic professional baseball, even the best players could only extend their contract by one year before acquiring the FA qualification, which takes at least eight years after joining.
As the controversy over human rights violations continued, the Fair Trade Commission issued a correction order to allow multi-year contracts in 2002, but the situation did not change.
However, in June, when Lotte Ahn Chi-hong raised a problem and showed signs of a legal dispute, the KBO decided to allow multi-year contracts for all players.
Players can secure future income in advance, and clubs can retain key players for a long time, a system commonly seen in major leagues.
Many superstars, including Mike Trout and Tatis Jr., all signed long-term contracts with their teams of 10 years or more before becoming free agents.
Young players with more than three years left to become free agents, such as Korea's Lee Jeong-hoo and Kang Baek-ho, can now sign long-term contracts.
The full acceptance of multi-year contracts is expected to be a big variable in the free agent market.
[Lee Ye-Rang/CEO of Ricoh Sports Agency: I think that through this interpretation of voting, a little more variety of contracts can be discussed with free agents and free agents.]
Some clubs have already begun to move quickly to keep pace with the new era, such as considering the possibility of multi-year contracts with their players.
(Video editing: Nam Il)