SBS ‘Universe League’ opens on the 22nd.

‘Universe League’ is the second season of ‘Universe Ticket’, which created the global girl group Eunice. F&F Entertainment and SBS are joining hands once again to challenge themselves with creating a global boy group.

The format has also been renewed as it returns for season 2. ‘Universe League’ presents a concept that combines various sports elements with K-pop survival. The 42 boys are divided into three teams: Rhythm, Groove, and Beat, and compete to win just one Prism Cup.

Attention is focused on the birth of the boy group that will lead the next-generation K-pop through ‘Universe League’. Here, the production team has summarized the main points to watch for in ‘Universe League’.


● Say goodbye to ordinary idol auditions! A ‘K-pop+sports’ league survival show is coming

According to the production team, what makes ‘Universe League’ so interesting is the league format. Unlike existing idol auditions that highlight individual abilities, ‘Universe League’ will be conducted as a team show from the beginning. The point of this program is that teamwork is just as important as individual abilities in an idol group. The program is operated like an actual sports game. The coaches of the three teams recruit players through a participant draft and enter the competition.

The team composition also changes from moment to moment. Depending on the results of the match, the coaches can recruit players from other teams and release existing players through trades. Through this, participants who showed fantastic teamwork as a team can experience the thrill of competing as rivals overnight. Here, they even utilized the system of starters and benches to simultaneously incite the participants‘ competitive spirit and desire to win.

In this way, the ‘Universe League’ plans to properly bring out the excitement that can only be seen in team competitions through a sports concept. ‘Universe League’ will show the true meaning of survival with a fresh format. People are looking forward to the kind of fun this new combination of K-pop survival and sports will bring to the program.


● A small number of elite global participants with proven ‘skills + visuals’

The boys who are the main characters of the ‘Universe League’ are also strong. Boys from all over the world, including Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, who dream of becoming global boy groups have thrown down the gauntlet to the ‘Universe League’. Only 42 of them will participate in the dream match. As it is a small but elite competition, you can see that the contestants are outstanding in both skills and visuals.

The contestants have been actively appealing their charms through various teasing content. As a result, global K-pop fans are competing for the ‘First Pick’ or directly combining players who will be active as a global boy group and cheering them on. Attention is focused on who will survive the fierce competition to the end and take the Prism Cup and who will be the main characters.


● Strongest MC/Director Lineup → All Senior Artists Leading K-pop

Senior artists leading current K-pop have all mobilized for the ‘Universe League’ global boy group. Park Jae-beom, who was selected as the sole MC, will be followed by BTOB’s Lee Chang-sub, GOT7‘s Yugyeom, EL CAPITXN, NCT and WayV’s Ten, and Yang Yang as a director. They plan to help the participants become global K-pop stars through coaching that incorporates their own abilities and experiences.

The most important thing is the ability of the coaches. Since the ‘Universe League’ is a league-based competition, the coaches‘ producing determines the victory. The coaches lead each team using their own specialized abilities. Watching the coaches, each with their own strengths, and the various attractive teams that are created under their hands is expected to be another fun element of the survival show.

‘Universe League’ will be first broadcast at 11:20 p.m. on the 22nd.

Reporter Hong Se-young, projecthong@donga.com