"Is it because of a high appearance fee? Absolutely not." Broadcaster Jeon Hyun-moo candidly explained why he ended up covering the KBS broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On the 23rd, a video titled "Um Ji-in, We Came to Take a Look at the World Cup Broadcast Team?! (feat. Jeon Hyun-moo, Lee Young-pyo, Nam Hyun-jong)" was released on the YouTube channel Yeouido Parenting Club.
Jeon Hyun-moo said, "I was suddenly given the opportunity to do the World Cup broadcast," and Um Ji-in asked, "You already have so many programs and make so much money... Did you get paid a lot?" Jeon replied, "Do you think they would have? I’m being paid at a level that feels like I’ve gone back to my announcer days," stressing that he was not taking on the broadcast for a large fee.
Um Ji-in added, "You have more than 10 regular programs. If you clear them all out to go, how much would you lose?" Jeon Hyun-moo said, "It’s not that I cleared them out. I just packed my schedule because I couldn’t handle them while doing the broadcast."
Jeon Hyun-moo said, "There are a lot of misunderstandings, like people thinking I must have been paid a lot or that there was some kind of deal, but none of that is true." He added, "Korea’s World Cup lineup is so strong, yet there is no World Cup boom. That should not be happening. People don’t even know when or with whom the matches are being played, or what role each person has. No one is paying attention. It is very disappointing," explaining that he stepped forward out of a sense of responsibility as public interest in the World Cup has declined.
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