▲ Professional Baseball Halted by Heatwave
As extreme heatwaves sweep across the country, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) plans to hold an emergency heatwave countermeasures meeting at 3:00 PM today (August 6) at the Baseball Hall in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with representatives from all 10 professional baseball clubs and the players association.
In addition, all first- and second-division professional baseball games scheduled for August 5 to 6 have been canceled until long-term measures are established.
As the heatwave has become a social issue these days, it is natural for professional baseball stakeholders to gather their opinions under the leadership of the KBO office to come up with countermeasures.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the KBO office maintained the steering wheel of league operations in alignment with government policies.
Unlike South Korea, Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan do not have explicit heatwave countermeasures.
Looking at the game cancellation policies of the world's top three professional baseball leagues according to weather conditions such as strong winds, heatwaves, fine dust, yellow dust, heavy snow, and rain, the differences are stark.
In MLB and NPB, the home team entirely or practically decides whether to cancel a game before it starts.
In South Korea, it is determined by the KBO game operations committee.
In effect, it relies heavily on the league office.
All three leagues share the rule that umpires hold the authority to cancel a game once it has started.
According to MLB Official Baseball Rules Section 4.04, Weather and Field Conditions, the determination of whether a game shall not start because of bad weather or unfit field conditions is made solely by the home club.
The 2026 Championship Games Agreement, which is similar to our KBO League regulations and was jointly established by the NPB office and the Nippon Professional Baseball Players Association, features the term Game Manager.
The Game Manager, usually an executive from the home team hosting the game, exercises all authority and duties concerning game operations and management delegated by the NPB Commissioner.
They bear overall responsibility for game operations, and if they determine that proceeding with a game is impossible or inappropriate due to weather, field conditions, natural disasters, transportation accidents, or strikes, they can request a game cancellation from high-ranking officials of the league office.
While the final authority to cancel a game before it starts rests with the league, the procedure involves the Game Manager requesting the cancellation, meaning it can practically be seen as the home team exercising cancellation rights, much like in MLB.
Home teams in the U.S. and Japan make cancellation decisions by comprehensively reviewing various fundamental factors such as ticket revenue, in-game marketing, and broadcasting alongside weather conditions.
There is a strong perception that while the league office establishes major standards related to league operations, general operations such as hosting games are the responsibility of the individual clubs.
However, the MLB and NPB offices do intervene in cancellation decisions made in late August or early September.
This is a measure to cut off controversies over unfairness in the race for rankings that may flare up toward the end of the regular season and to smoothly reschedule league fixtures.
Unlike the leagues in the two countries, the KBO League follows the decisions of the KBO office.
Because clubs and managers often have conflicting opinions on cancellations, a long-standing convention has solidified that it is more convenient to wait for a neutral judgment from the KBO.
Except for special circumstances, the trend in the U.S. and Japan is for teams to decide on pre-game cancellations associated with routine climate changes, such as weather and field conditions.
To reduce the endless controversies that arise every time a game is canceled due to rain or heatwaves, it might be better for South Korea as well to strengthen the responsibilities of the clubs.
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