Global media platform corporations SOOP has decided to acquire the AI Peppers women's professional volleyball team, marking a full-scale expansion into the sports business.
Through this acquisition, SOOP plans to support the stable operation of the women's professional volleyball league while combining its accumulated sports broadcasting and content production capabilities with team management to secure a new growth engine.
SOOP has continued to collaborate with associations and federations across various sports to build broadcasting environments, host competitions, and produce related content. Beyond simple broadcast transmission, it has expanded to pre- and postgame stories, Highlight packages, and replay content, developing sports into a content business.
Based on this experience, SOOP plans to actively strengthen content competitiveness for the AI Peppers team. It intends to create a structure where fans can continuously consume and participate in off-field aspects of games.
Experience in operating an e-sports team is also cited as a strength. Through its own e-sports team, SOOP has accumulated overall know-how in player management, development systems, and fan community operations. The company plans to apply this to the professional volleyball team to improve both on-court performance and fan experience.
It also plans to leverage the strengths of its live streaming platform to expand real-time communication-based content and combine this with locality-centered fan culture to broaden touchpoints between fans and the team inside and outside the stadium. Team operations will be handled by SOOP's subsidiary, SOOP TV.
A SOOP representative said, "The acquisition of AI Peppers is an important opportunity to take our sports business to the next level," adding, "Based on our accumulated content production experience and e-sports team operation know-how, we will create meaningful value for fans and local communities as well as ensure stable team management."
Pepper Savings Bank, which joined the V League in 2021 as the seventh team, had recently been pursuing a sale due to financial difficulties at its parent company.
After the 2025-2026 season ended, free agents Park Jeong-a and Lee Han-bi were sent to Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, respectively, via sign-and-trade arrangements, and coaching staff and office employees had stopped team training after their contracts expired.
They were unable to participate in recent foreign player tryouts and the draft held in Prague, Czech Republic, causing disruptions to operations.<
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