Representative Lee Yerang: "The Idea for the Contract Success Came from An Chi-hong"

On the 28th, at the Lotte Hotel in Busanjin-gu, Busan, during the professional baseball Lotte Giants player An Chi-hong's signing ceremony, sports agency CEO Lee Ye-rang is answering questions from the press. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Seulgi Kim] CEO Lee Yerang, who finalized the contract between An Chi-hong and the Lotte Giants, revealed anecdotes from the contract process.

On the 28th, the Lotte Giants held An Chi-hong's signing ceremony at the Busan Lotte Hotel. Attending the ceremony were An Chi-hong, Lotte's General Manager Seong Min-gyu, and Lee Yerang, CEO of Rico Sports Agency, An Chi-hong's agent.

On this day, CEO Lee said, "The current form of the contract was not established from the beginning," explaining the contract between An Chi-hong and Lotte.

She added, "I think we revised the contract terms more than twenty times until the current form was finalized," and "I had very long discussions with player An Chi-hong."

She continued, "Since this contract requires another evaluation after two years, I am also very nervous."

Then CEO Lee said, "An Chi-hong himself placed great significance on taking on this challenge," and added, "I gained a lot of strength from him to come up with ideas."

At the professional baseball Lotte Giants signing ceremony held on the 28th at Lotte Hotel in Busanjin-gu, Busan, General Manager Seong Min-gyu (from left), player Ahn Chi-hong, and Sports Agency CEO Lee Ye-rang are posing for a photo. Photo by Yonhap News

After last season, An Chi-hong obtained free agent (FA) status and signed with Lotte on the 6th. The guaranteed contract is a total of 2.6 billion KRW over 2 years (signing bonus 1.42 billion KRW, total annual salary 580 million KRW, options and buyout totaling 600 million KRW).

In particular, the contract includes a '2+2' clause allowing an extension for up to 4 years and a maximum of 3.1 billion KRW per year after two years upon mutual agreement between the club and the player, which attracted attention. If extended, An Chi-hong's contract could total up to 5.6 billion KRW over 4 years.

CEO Lee Yerang gained attention last year by finalizing Yang Eui-ji's 4-year, 12.5 billion KRW contract with the NC Dinos and leading SK Wyverns' Lee Jae-won's 4-year, 6.9 billion KRW retention contract. In 2015, she also led Kim Hyun-soo's Major League Baseball contract with the Baltimore Orioles.