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The new Major League stadiums and newly built domestic ballparks share one common feature.
It’s the “concourse” layout. This design keeps the passageways behind the stands open so fans can buy and eat food while still seeing the field, and today almost every newly built stadium adopts this layout as the default.
Conversely, a stadium without this layout easily gives the impression of being an “old” ballpark.
The Three Stadiums Without a Concourse — Jamsil, Sajik, and kt Wiz Park
In South Korea, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Sajik Baseball Stadium, and kt Wiz Park are considered the three oldest stadiums, and coincidentally none of them have concourse layouts.
Because the concession areas are arranged in corridors where the field disappears completely from view when you stand in line, fans naturally came to view these stadiums as outdated. Jamsil, used by the LG Twins and Doosan Bears, will be demolished after this season and rebuilt as a domed stadium opening in 2031, and Sajik is also planned for reconstruction with a targeted opening in 2031. With both of those getting new makeovers, kt Wiz Park in Suwon will effectively be the only remaining stadium retaining the old layout.
Turning a Weakness Into a Strength at kt Wiz Park
kt Wiz Park, too, still uses the original 1989 structure and was not free from this weakness. The corridor lined with concessions was narrow and completely disconnected from the field.
What impressed me was how dramatically this structural weakness was turned into a strength. From a club marketer’s perspective, it was striking how they solved a problem thought solvable only by rebuilding, using the existing framework instead.
The Kiosk System That Eliminated Lines
The biggest drawback of corridor-style concession areas was the long lines that formed in front of each stand. kt Wiz Park approached the problem by eliminating those lines entirely. Instead of queuing at the stalls, customers pay at centrally located kiosks; they then receive notifications on their phones about the status of their order, and staff personally deliver the food to their seats when it’s ready. This system bypasses the physical limitations of narrow queueing corridors, and the idea itself felt refreshingly original.
The Media Wall and Night Events — Drawing Fans Even in the Off-Season
Installing a large media wall more than 30 meters wide and over 3 meters tall was a masterstroke.
On game days, the media wall displays live feed, the score, and advertisements so those near the concessions don’t miss the flow of the game, and on non-game evenings they host “night events” where fans can watch away-game broadcasts with recreation activities and receive free beer.
I heard the response to these night events was explosive, and I think that’s because they fully leveraged the advantage that all the local popular eateries are already located within Wiz Park. Fans don’t need to go searching for restaurants — they can try all the famous local spots in one place. With a crowd made up of baseball fans plus a cheer captain and cheerleaders, the atmosphere is bound to be electric. As a marketer, I found it to be a very clever and sustainable way to keep fans coming to the stadium during the off-season or when the team is on the road.
Generative AI Powers the Media Wall’s Content
The video content shown on this media wall was also noteworthy.
They continuously produced themed videos tied to the season or the day’s game, but producing that volume of content continuously would normally incur significant production costs.
Instead, they leaned heavily on generative AI tools to cut production costs. There have been reports that at the KT Group level, generative AI video production cut costs by over 90% and reduced production time to less than a tenth, and it seems those group-level technological capabilities flowed directly into the stadium’s content production.
Including the local government advertisements shown in the photos, this single media wall serves simultaneously as a content display, an advertising medium, and a fan engagement channel. With fans responding enthusiastically, it appears to be a clear example of strong return on investment.
Closing Thoughts
In summary, kt Wiz Park is a case where a structural weakness that would normally label it an old-fashioned stadium was instead turned into a dramatic strength.
They confronted the limitation of not having a concourse without rebuilding by using systems and a media wall, and I believe this approach offers practical lessons for most domestic clubs.
In fact, kt Wiz has several other firsts and successful initiatives across the domestic professional sports industry beyond this F&B space innovation. There’s a lot to cover on that topic, so I plan to run a separate series over several installments.
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