"Spending has increased as much as profits." Hit the box office hit → How much better has the team's living improved? [12 million professional baseball Go!②]

*This content was translated by AI.

The KBO League surpassed 10 million spectators for the first time in Korean professional sports history in 2024, followed by an era of 12 million spectators in 2025. What is the driving force behind the unprecedented popularity. Star News also pointed out whether the spectator jackpot can be a catalyst for the development of the professional baseball industry, and what efforts KBO (Korea Baseball Commission) and each club are making to not stop at a flash box office. /Editor's note

It was 6 million to 8 million and 10 million, and last year, it was the first time in Korean professional sports that it had 12 million spectators. Now professional baseball has become a culture. The KBO League, which was launched in 1982, is in its heyday.

In particular, the number of young female fans has increased, and the purchasing power has also changed significantly. Every time a game is held, each stadium's goods shops are flooded with fans. Special uniforms that come out at certain times are always in short supply.

If so, how good would the financial conditions of KBO League clubs have improved.

Last season, seven clubs exceeded 1 million spectators for the first time ever, the Samsung Lions surpassed 1.6 million for the first time ever, and the Hanwha Eagles set a new record of 62 sold-outs and a phenomenal 99.3% seat share.

In particular, Hanwha, which opened the era of Hanwha Life Ball Park, a new stadium, was at the center of the box office craze. Along with the increased capacity of the stadium (an increase of 5,000), the number of home spectators exceeded 1.23 million, which was directly linked to sales.

It achieved its highest performance since its foundation in all areas of marketing such as advertising and products. There was always a waiting line in front of the two goods shops operating in the stadium, and popular products always ran out in an instant even if they wanted to get them, causing chaos.

The situation has also changed a lot for a club known as one of the "unpopular clubs." A club official said, "The proceeds of MD products are increasing by nearly 30% every year."

In the "2024 Pro Sports Spectator Survey" released by the Hyundai Economic Research Institute, professional baseball fans spent 157,000 won per person on a season to purchase various MD products such as uniforms and light sticks. According to Incross's "2024 Baseball Fandom Trend Report," they spend between 80,000 won and 100,000 won for each in-person game, including food and beverage.

However, if you look at the club's financial condition compared to the increasing number of spectators, it is evaluated that there has been no dramatic change. We have no choice but to look at the practical problem. This is because the number of spectators is increasing, selling various products, and increasing profits, but they are still spending more than that.

This is closely related to the innate structure of professional baseball. Except for Kiwoom Heroes, which maintains a naming sponsor system, all of them rely on parent company support. Of course, it would be nice to make a lot of money, but it is not an absolute goal for the club to make a surplus. Each club has a significant marketing role for its parent company. This is in contrast to Kiwoom's must make a surplus for the team's management.

A club official explained, "MD profits have increased a lot this season, but it is difficult to regard it as a surplus when excluding advertisements coming from parent companies."

Even if you look at the 2024 data released on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system (DART), it is difficult to find a club that has recorded a significant surplus. In that year, Hanwha drew 800,000 spectators, setting a new club record and soaring uniform sales by more than 250%, but its net profit did not exceed 100 million won.

In the case of Samsung, which achieved 1.3 million spectators, more detailed financial flows could be confirmed, but operating profit was only about 23 million won. Rather, it was less than 2023 (about 332 million won), which attracted 845,000 spectators.

Its net profit also reached about 200 million won, which was also less than that of 2023 (about 368 million won). The entry revenue was about 6 billion won, the operating income of the stadium was also about 900 million won, and the business revenue was also about 3 billion won, with total sales exceeding 84 billion won, up 10 billion won from the previous year, but spending also increased.

It can be seen that the amount of expenditure is significant as much as the club can earn, with the team's operating expenses increasing by about 6 billion won, the game progressing expenses by about 900 million won, and the payment fee also increasing by about 1 billion won.

The high ransom of the squad must also be taken into account. Even in this stove league, the ransom controversy was not left out. Officials say that some overpay is inevitable for the club to reinforce its power in an environment where resources are not sufficient.

Although the club's financial situation is still not at the level of shaking the professional baseball, it has generated a lot of profits along with the hot box office.

A club official B said, "It can be seen as a structure of spending as much as you earn realistically. The club's sales, including MD sales costs, are increasing, but in reality, the annual salary and various expenditures of the team are also increasing, and it is not getting out of the structure where profits and expenditures are matched every year.

In the end, it can be seen that "how much you spend" has a more decisive effect on the financial position of the year than "how much you earn" in the current profit structure of the professional baseball team. This is because there is a limit to increasing profits, but there are infinite places to spend money. This is why most clubs do not make much money, but it is also possible to operate so that they do not suffer from a large deficit. No matter how much professional baseball has grown industrially, the phrase "as much as you earn" is still the most accurate expression.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.