Busan’s Sajik Indoor Gymnasium is changing the way it utilizes space.

Sajik Indoor Gymnasium is a place that contains the history of professional basketball. Busan Kia Enterprise (now Hyundai Mobis in Ulsan), Busan KTF, and Busan KT (now Suwon KT) used it as a home court.

However, since the 2021-2022 season, Sajik Indoor Gymnasium has been used for women’s professional basketball. KT relocated from Busan to Suwon, and Busan BNK Thumb, which used to play at Geumjeong Gymnasium, utilized Sajik Indoor Gymnasium as its home court.

Then, in August 2023. The news came as a surprise. After more than 20 years of shared history with Jeonju fans, KCC chose Busan as its new home, making KCC and BNK a family.

However, there was a practical problem: there were two teams with the same ties. The two teams have completely different personalities.

First of all, KCC is a member of the KBL, while BNK is a member of the WKBL. Therefore, we had to adjust the game schedule. Fortunately, we’ve solved it to some extent. KBL, WKBL, KCC, and BNK officials coordinated it. We decided to coordinate the weekday schedule, but have double headers on the weekends (two in total).

And the title sponsors are different. While the KBL’s title sponsor for the 2023-2024 season is Chungkwanjang, the WKBL’s title sponsor for 2023-2024 is Woori Bank. That’s why both Jungkwan and Woori Bank are on the court in Sajik Gymnasium.

Also, when KCC and BNK play back-to-back games, neither team can practice on the main court. Hence the construction of the secondary court B. “There was a gap in the floor and underneath the court, so we couldn’t use it, so we designed the court after filling the gap,” said a KCC official, explaining the secondary court.

“The same goes for the main gym. However, in the case of the main gymnasium, it will be done after the end of the next season,” he said, explaining the plans for the main court.

Most importantly, the atmosphere of KCC and BNK should come together. To be precise, the blue color of KCC and the red color of BNK should coexist. This is true for the interior facilities, including the aisles between seats and couples’ seats, as well as the exterior facilities, including ticket boxes, stairs, and gates.

The KCC team locker room and office space, the away team locker room and showers, and the space for the event team and cheerleading squad were also revamped. In the case of the KCC team locker room, in particular, the space was enlarged and the blue color of KCC’s symbol was added.

A KCC official said, “It was necessary to look at the Sajik Indoor Gym. The interior space is similar to Jamsil Indoor Gym, but the exterior space is larger than Jamsil Indoor Gym. Also, there is a space that BNK is using, so we had to find a space that excludes it,” he said, talking about space utilization.

“For things like color schemes and interiors, we had to agree on a lot of things with BNK. BNK helped us a lot. After reaching an agreement with BNK, we had discussions with the Busan Sports Promotion Organization,” he adds, describing the process of discussions with BNK.

Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in red and blue colors. In 2023 메이저놀이터