*This content was translated by AI.
The popularity of the Korean professional baseball KBO League cannot cool down. As it attracted 1 million spectators in just two weeks after the opening, 10 million spectators for the first three consecutive years in Korean professional sports history became no longer a dream.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) officially announced after the end of the game on the 10th, "The 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League has achieved the minimum number of games and 1 million spectators in the shortest period of time."
23,122 people entered the game against Jamsil LG Twins-SSG Landers, 16,000 against Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes-Lotte Giants, 11,337 against Suwon KT Wiz-Doosan Bears, 17,000 against Daejeon Hanwha Eagles-KIA Tigers, and 24,000 against Daegu Samsung Lions-NC Dinos.
A total of 91,459 people entered the five stadiums on the day, bringing the total number of spectators to 1,011,465 (about 18,390). This is the lowest number of games in history, 55 games, and the shortest number of days, exceeding 1 million in 14 days. The previous record was 60 games in the 2025 season and 16 days, moving up five more games and two more days, respectively.
KBO, which reported the news, said, "We are attracting spectators at a faster trend than last season, when we succeeded in surpassing 12 million spectators (final 12,312,519) for the first time in professional baseball."
"This season started with 105,878 people entering from the opening game, selling out all the stadiums for the opening game for the fourth consecutive year. Compared to the same number of games last year (based on 55 games), the cumulative number of spectators increased by 4%. The average number of spectators also increased from 17,876 last year to 18,390 and recorded an increase of 2.89%.
According to KBO, the number one in the total number of spectators at the time of surpassing 1 million spectators was defending champion LG. LG topped the list with 141,872 people.
Samsung recorded 140,226 people, surpassing 140,000 spectators side by side. SSG had 123, Hanwha had 102,000, Lotte had 101,291, and Doosan had 101,146, with a total of six teams exceeding 100,000 spectators.
In the average audience, LG also ranked first with 23,645 people. Samsung followed with 23,371, Lotte with 22,258 and Doosan with 22,229, with a total of four teams exceeding 20,000 spectators on average.
Kiwoom, which recorded a 43% increase in cumulative spectator growth compared to the same period last year, ranked first. KT is trying to attract spectators, trailing at 22%.
KBO expected more fans to visit the baseball stadium, "with full-fledged ranking competition in the warmer weather in the future."
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*This content was translated by AI.
