Jamsil Stadium sold out 24 times… The largest audience ever

Baseball fans are cheering while watching the game between the Doosan Bears and LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 22nd. Following the previous day, all tickets for today’s game were sold out, and the cumulative number of spectators at Jamsil Baseball Stadium this season was 1,328,406. Reporter Choi Hyuk

Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, the cradle of Korean professional baseball, made another history. For the first time, it exceeded 1.3 million spectators, achieving the largest attendance ever at Jamsil Baseball Stadium. If this momentum continues, there are expectations that the record for the most seasons in the Korea Professional Baseball (KBO) League can be broken.

According to the LG Twins, in the first doubleheader game against the Doosan Bears held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 21st, the cumulative attendance of 1,304,656 home games in the 2024 season was recorded, and the next day, on the 22nd, at 2:20 PM, 30 minutes after the start of the game, 20,000 spectators were recorded. All 3,750 seats were sold, increasing the cumulative audience to 1,328,406. This is the record for the largest number of spectators at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in a single season in history, breaking the record of 1,291,703 recorded in 2012 in 12 years. The LG team itself also set a new record for the largest number of spectators (2013, 1,289,297).

LG, which set a record of 1.3 million spectators, surpasses the KBO League record for the largest number of spectators in a single season, achieved by Lotte in 2009. Lotte recorded 1,380,018 spectators at the time, with an average of 20,597 spectators per game, holding the record for more than 10 years.

There are four remaining LG games. Starting with the SSG game on the 24th, they will meet Hanwha, Kiwoom, and Samsung in turn. If more than 12,903 people attend each game, it will surpass Lotte’s record set in 2009. The baseball world predicts that if this momentum continues, we will be able to write a new history, as we have previously sold out 24 times.

This season, the KBO League continues to have the highest success ever. According to the KBO, as of the 18th of this month, the revenue from spectator admission for the 10 teams in the KBO League was estimated at 150,564,935,895 won. Ticket revenue, which was about 2.1 billion won in 1982 when professional baseball was launched, increased to 10 billion won in 1991. It then grew to 70 billion won with the 10-team system in 2015, and in just 9 years, it surpassed 150 billion won even before the season ended.

The number of spectators is also setting new records every day. The game between KIA Tigers and SSG Landers, held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 15th, achieved a cumulative attendance of 10 million for the first time in 43 years since the launch of professional baseball. The KIA-Doosan game held in Jamsil on the 19th recorded the 200th sellout of the season, and the game between LG and Doosan on this day was recorded as LG’s 24th sellout of the season.

Reporter Jo Soo-young delinews@hankyung.com