More than half of professional football clubs are operated by local governments.
These are not clubs created by companies, but clubs in which provincial and city governments are shareholders. As a result, a substantial portion of their operating costs comes from tax revenue.
How can we know how much is spent, and whether that money is worth the cost?
3-line summary
1. There are 14 professional football clubs operated by local governments.
2. Their total support budget for 2025 is 1,216 eok won.
3. The promotional-value figure is an estimate, not revenue.
Where the 700 eok figure came from
On July 30, the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held a hearing with the Korea Football Association. Kim Byung-ji, vice president of the Football Association and concurrently CEO of Gangwon FC, appeared as a witness.
At the hearing, questions were raised over whether the tax money going into municipal and provincial citizen clubs was justified, and Vice President Kim described those clubs as a regional “public good.”
The following day, he posted an additional explanation on social media. He said that Gangwon FC had generated 700 eok won in promotional value—about 5 times its investment—over the previous year, and had reduced its reliance on provincial funding from 67% to 42%.
This article is not intended to determine whether that claim is correct. It examines how the figure of “700 eok won in promotional value” is produced.
14 clubs, 1,216 eok won
These figures come from an analysis of 2025 budgets by the Institute for Government Expenditures.
| Club | Local government support |
|---|---|
| Suwon FC | About 161 eok won |
| Gangwon FC | About 120 eok won |
| Gwangju FC | About 110 eok won |
| Incheon United | About 100 eok won |
| Gyeongnam FC | About 100 eok won |
| Daegu FC | About 98 eok won |
There are 14 clubs like these, for a combined total of 1,216 eok won. That is slightly more than half of the K League’s 26 teams.
Some clubs, such as Seongnam FC, have seen their support decline. Its funding fell from 115 eok won to 60 eok won.
How “promotional value” is calculated
This is the key point.
It measures how long and how often a club name or regional name appeared on broadcast screens and in newspapers. It then converts that exposure time into the question: How much would it have cost to buy advertising in the same placement? Weighting is added for factors such as the size of the media outlet or the number of viewers.
This method is called advertising value equivalency, or AVE.
The issue is that this figure represents money that nobody actually paid. It is the estimated price that would have been paid to buy advertising—not money someone gave to the region.
This metric is internationally disputed as well
In 2010, public relations professionals and academics gathered in Barcelona, Spain, and established measurement principles. One of those principles states:
“Advertising value equivalency is not the value of public relations.”
Academia does not recommend it either. To borrow the wording of a public-relations professor writing in a PR trade publication: while it is understood to be an estimate, it is difficult to call it scientific or objective.
There are several reasons.
Exposure does not necessarily mean favorable sentiment. Exposure time accumulates just the same even when a name appears because of something negative. Results can differ by several times depending on the basis used for advertising rates. Above all, this method was created when TV and newspapers accounted for almost everything.
So when you encounter a promotional-value figure, read it this way: It is not an incorrect number, but it is not a number that should be placed in the same category as revenue for comparison.
The question fans asked
The most common online reaction this time was summed up in one sentence: If the promotional value really is 700 eok won, why is tax support necessary?
Logically, the two figures use different units. Promotional value is an estimated value that the region is presumed to have gained, while the support budget is cash that was actually spent. One cannot repay the other.
Still, the question itself is valid. The club presented that figure as its own measure of performance. Those who choose an evaluation metric are also responsible for explaining its limitations.
Support ratio · ticket revenue · attendance · youth players
Beyond promotional value, there are figures that can be verified.
What percentage of the total budget comes from local-government support? This is the 42% ratio disclosed by Gangwon FC. Whether it is declining year after year is the real measure of self-sufficiency.
How much are ticket revenue and sponsorship revenue? This is money that actually entered the bank account.
What is the average attendance? It shows whether the club is actually being consumed in the local community.
How many players have moved up from the youth team? If a club claims to be a public good, results should appear here.
You can directly check how much goes into your local club through the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Local Finance 365. Select the relevant local government, then search for the club name in the expenditure budget to find the item. The same figures can also be found in the local government’s budget documents.
Whether municipal and provincial citizen clubs are necessary is not something this article can decide. Circumstances also differ by region.
But to have that discussion, the figures must be compared in the same units. If an estimated amount that nobody paid is placed next to taxes that were actually spent, the comparison does not hold from the outset.
References
- Kyunghyang Shinmun 14 local-government-operated professional football clubs…1200 eok won invested this year
- Institute for Government Expenditures Analysis of 2025 local-government support budgets for municipal and provincial professional football clubs
- OSEN Football fans respond coldly to Kim Byung-ji’s claim of “700 eok won in promotional value”
- Asia Economy Fallout from the Football Association hearing…Kim Byung-ji rebuts the “public good” argument again
- The PR The reality and limitations of promotional effects worth “eok”
- The PR PR effectiveness measurement: Let’s move beyond a “relic of a bygone era”
- Ministry of the Interior and Safety Local Finance 365 Integrated Local Finance Disclosure System
Budget figures are based on 2025 and vary from year to year. For the latest amount for each club, please check the budget documents of the relevant local government.