○ Promotion of Gyeonggi Province’s “Sports New Deal” initiative for 2021 to support ailing sports industry
○ Comprised of three projects with a total budget of KRW 1.745 billion
– Support for short-term worker employment in the sports industry (KRW 960 million), support for disease control and prevention equipment provision (KRW 320 million), and support for production of contactless sports content (KRW 465 million)
○ Selection of subsidiary initiatives from each of Gyeonggi’s 31 cities and counties to execute the three projects
– Limited to sports bodies based on Gyeonggi Province’s Municipal Ordinance on the Promotion of Sports
○ Extended promotion of projects if this year’s pilot projects prove effective

On March 4, Gyeonggi Province revealed its plan to promote its Sports New Deal initiative for 2021 to support the ailing sports industry, which has been impacted by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, and to help workers in the sports industry with short-term jobs.

A total of KRW 1.745 billion will be allocated to the Sports New Deal initiative, which will be organized around three projects: support for short-term, three-month worker employment in the sports industry (KRW 960 million); support for disease control and prevention equipment provision (KRW 320 million); and support for contactless sports content production (KRW 465 million).

The first support project is geared to support the livelihood of 126 workers in Gyeonggi Province’s sports industry, those who are experiencing difficulties with unemployment or business discontinuance due to COVID-19, through the creation of short-term jobs for three-month periods. These individuals will be linked with sports groups selected by cities and counties to execute administrative mandates, and will receive pay of approximately KRW 2.2 million in accordance with the living wage of Gyeonggi Province for 2021. Three to six individuals will be employed in each sports group depending on the populations of each city and county.

The second support project aims to provide necessary disease control and prevention equipment (e.g. masks, portable thermometers) for use at sporting events and games, with supporting payments of KRW 9 million to KRW 11 million being allotted to each city and county based on population.

The third support project seeks to provide sports industry workers with opportunities for contactless activities as well as with assistance for activity costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sports workers can produce and submit various sports-related YouTube videos to city or county’s organizations for evaluations based on the number of views (50%) and likes (50%). Prize money will be awarded for videos ranked in 1st to 22nd place, with KRW 2 million being awarded to the 1st place video, KRW 1.5 million to 2nd place, KRW 1 million to 3rd place, and KRW 500 thousand for the 4th to 22nd place videos.

In order to promote the Sports New Deal initiative, Gyeonggi Province will select one subsidiary initiative in city and county to aid in the execution of the three primary projects. Subsidiary initiative applications will be accepted during a fifteen-day period from March 5 to 19, but limited to sporting organizations based on Gyeonggi Province’s Municipal Ordinance on the Promotion of Sports. The application announcement can be found on Gyeonggi Province’s website (http://www.gg.go.kr) via News > Announcements & Legislations > Announcements & Notices.

An official of Gyeonggi Province commented, “We hope to breathe life into the ailing sports industry through the Sports New Deal initiative, which we are promoting for the first time, and we plan to expand this project if it produces positive results.”