Goseong-gun presses ahead with second sports town, pacing project with council input

Goseong-gun in South Gyeongsang Province is refining the blueprint for its second sports town project — a key campaign pledge of the current county administration — through close coordination with the county council.

According to Goseong-gun and the county council, the third supplementary budget review recently approved 30 million won ($22,100) for a master plan and feasibility study related to the second sports town project.

A separate feasibility study fee of 270 million won — required for projects with total costs exceeding 50 billion won under local fiscal investment rules — will be incorporated in stages after the master plan review, taking into account year-end execution timelines and carryover concerns.

County officials view the budget adjustment not as a setback but as a constructive process of gathering input to strengthen the project. The plan is to use the master plan results, expected by year's end, as the basis for thorough consultations with the council to determine the optimal project scale.

Goseong-gun has ranked first in South Gyeongsang Province for visiting sports team recruitment for six consecutive years, establishing itself as a nationally recognized training destination. Officials say expanding infrastructure is essential to ease the strain on the existing sports town and to stay ahead of competing municipalities through proactive sports marketing.

The county had initially outlined a long-term vision of around 100 billion won covering land acquisition and sports facility construction, but stressed the figure is not final. The project's scale may be adjusted based on the master plan findings, and if the total cost is revised below 50 billion won, the project could actually move faster by going through an internal review rather than a central government investment assessment.

"Sports marketing is a clear future growth engine for Goseong-gun and a core strategy for supporting local small businesses, especially as competition from neighboring municipalities intensifies," a county official said. "We will work closely with the council and follow every procedure carefully to deliver an effective second sports town."