KBO club suspends ticket sales as stadium safety checks continue after fan's death

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- The NC Dinos have decided to suspend sales of tickets for the next set of home games amid ongoing safety checks at their stadium in light of a fan's death.

In a notice posted on their website Wednesday, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club said tickets for the three-game series against the Lotte Giants, scheduled for April 11-13 at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will not go on sale for the time being because it hadn't been determined whether those games will be played.

Ticketing windows for home games in the KBO typically open seven days ahead of time.

The KBO canceled a three-game series between the Dinos and the SSG Landers from Tuesday to Thursday this week after a fan died Monday from a head injury she'd sustained two days earlier at Changwon NC Park.

A piece of aluminum panel fell off a window of the Dinos' office above a concession stand and hit the roof of the snack bar before landing on the late fan and her younger sister, who suffered a broken collarbone.

The KBO initially planned to have the Dinos-Landers series played without fans before scrapping all three games. The league canceled all the other games scheduled for Tuesday and designated Tuesday-Thursday as a leaguewide mourning period. Teams that returned to action Wednesday played their next two games without their usual cheering squads and players wore black ribbons on their jerseys in honor of the deceased fan.

The Dinos and the city of Changwon conducted emergency safety inspections Tuesday. Separately, the Dinos began their own checks of stadium facilities Wednesday.

The ball club, the municipal government and the city-run Changwon Infrastructure Corp. formed a joint task force Thursday to handle the aftermath of the tragic incident and to devise preventive measures.

The ongoing safety inspections by the new task force could take up to two weeks.

"The safety of our spectators takes precedence over everything else," Dinos CEO Lee Jin-man said. "In light of the recent incident, we are working with the city of Changwon to ensure a safer environment for our fans."

The Dinos will resume their season Friday in a three-game series against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. They will then play three more road games, from next Tuesday to Thursday, against the KT Wiz in Suwon, some 30 kilometers south of Seoul.

Following the Giants series, the Dinos are scheduled to stay home for three games against the Doosan Bears from April 15 to 17.

If the KBO doesn't postpone those games, the Dinos may be forced to play them at their opponents' stadiums or at a neutral venue.

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