With 147 games left, ‘a new record for the largest number of spectators’… I see 10 million notices
Despite the variables of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the heat wave, the popularity of the Korean Professional Baseball (KBO) league did not subside. The KBO League, which continued its box office success, set a new record for the largest audience ever.
The KBO League, with 91,527 people attending five stadiums on the 18th, achieved a cumulative attendance of 8,475,664 this year after 573 games. This is a new record for the largest number of spectators in a season in the 43-year history of the KBO League. The previous record for largest attendance set in 2017 was surpassed by a whopping 147 games. If the current trend continues, it is expected that the number of people exceeding 9 million for the first time in history and exceeding 10 million could become a reality.
Achieving a new record for the largest number of spectators on this day was expected. A day earlier, on the 17th, four of the five stadiums were sold out, and a total of 103,826 spectators came, recording a cumulative attendance of 8,384,137 this season. The record was only broken by the KIA Tigers-LG Twins match held at Jamsil Stadium (23,750 seats), which was only 16,551 people short of the previous record for the largest number of spectators.
The successive medal news from the Paris Olympics and the unprecedented heat wave could not dampen the popularity of the KBO League in July and August. On the 17th of last month, the number of spectators reached 6.54 million after 451 games, exceeding the record of 6.5 million in 2014, which was the highest attendance record for a nine-team system. On the 28th, after the opening of the Olympics, it reached 7.17 million after 492 games, the highest attendance for an eight-team system. It exceeded the record of 7.15 million in 2012.
On the 1st of this month, when news of medals poured in from the Olympics, the number was 7.42 million, ranking 5th in history and breaking the 7.33 million in 2015, which was the first season to exceed 7 million. Then, on the 13th, they made history by exceeding 8 million cumulative spectators in 569 games, the lowest number of games in history. The previous minimum attendance record of 8 million for a game was 693 games achieved in 2016. This is the fifth time in history that the KBO League has attracted 8 million spectators, following 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2023.
The protagonists leading the unprecedented box office success in the KBO League this year are ‘women in their 20s and 30s’. The KBO League, where ‘old men’ were the main fans until just 10 years ago, has now emerged as a new center with women in their 20s and 30s accounting for the majority of the total audience. According to KBO, the proportion of women among ticket buyers in the first half of this year reached 54.4%, up 3.7 percentage points from last year. The proportion of female spectators in their 20s jumped from 37.8% last year to 41.4% this year. According to a survey of ticket buyers for the All-Star Game held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon last month, female spectators accounted for 68.8%, with 39.6% being women in their 20s and 19.1% being women in their 30s. There were more than twice as many men as 31.2%.
The performance of popular teams also contributed greatly to the success. LG, the defending champion and third place, exceeded 1 million spectators in the KIA game on the 16th in 53 games, the smallest game in a single season since the KBO League system of 10 teams. In addition, it recorded more than 1 million spectators for the 16th season, the largest number of spectators in professional sports. The club promised, “We will continue to carry out good performances and various marketing activities to make baseball a success this season, and do our best with the goal of reaching 1.3 million spectators for the first time at Jamsil Baseball Stadium.”
Reporter Seo Jae-won jwseo@hankyung.com
