The opening games of the first five stadiums were full for the second consecutive year. For the third time in history, the number of openings exceeded 100,000
All five stadiums were sold out this season as well. He started off a strong start to the largest number of spectators by surpassing 100,000 for the third time in the opening game in history.
This season’s opening matches were held in Jamsil (Hanwha-LG), Incheon (Lotte-SSG), Changwon (Doosan-NC), Suwon (Samsung-KT), and Gwangju (Kium-KIA). The tickets were already sold out due to online reservations, but canceled tickets were sold out on site, and they were sold out one after another.
The total number of spectators reached 103,841 on the day, with 23,750 people in Jamsil, 23,000 in Incheon, 20,500 in Gwangju, 18,700 in Suwon and 17,891 in Changwon all sold out. This is the third-largest record after the largest number of spectators in the opening game in 2019 and 105,450 last year, the second-largest ever.
The KBO League recorded 8,103,326 spectators last year. This was the third-highest record ever, following 8,406,888 in 2017 and 8,339,577 in 2016.
Expectations are high that baseball’s popularity will rise further this season. The LG Twins, the winner of last year, and the KIA Tigers, which has been replaced by Lee Bum-ho, are considered candidates for the championship, while the Lotte Giants have higher expectations for autumn baseball than any other year since they have recruited Kim Tae-hyung. It is highly likely that fans of the three teams that have high spectator capacity in the KBO League will flock to the baseball stadium.
On top of that, baseball fans’ interest increased as South Korean ace Ryu Hyun-jin, who won 78 games in the Major League, returned. Analysts say that baseball fever could increase as it is not easy to predict the rankings due to the increased power of teams overall except for Kiwoom Heroes.
The opening series of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, where top major league stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Kim Ha-sung, and Fernando Tatis Jr. are gathered, was held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul ahead of the opening of the KBO League, raising interest in baseball in advance.
As baseball stadiums have recently upgraded their stands for the convenience of spectators, reducing the number of spectators, the overall number of spectators has decreased, so even if all five stadiums are sold out, they will not be ranked first in history.
Source: 토토사이트