In the era of 1 million won spectators, it is now time for professional baseball to invest in R&D and HRD. [Ryu Sun-kyu's Bizball]

*This content was translated by AI.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 3rd that a total of 105,441 spectators attended games across five stadiums, reaching the season's 5 million spectator milestone. The cumulative attendance stands at 5,041,891. This record was achieved in just 275 games, 19 games faster than last year's milestone of 5 million spectators reached in 294 games.

The 2026 KBO League has already set new all-time records for the fewest games needed to reach 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, and 4 million spectators. This pace is even faster than last year's record-breaking 12,312,519 total spectators. In 2024, the league opened the era of 1 million won spectators for the first time in history, and last year surpassed 12 million. This year, the possibility of breaking through 13 million spectators is even being discussed. This is a level of commercial excitement unprecedented in the history of Korean professional sports.

This commercial boom is naturally leading to increased revenue for the teams. According to the 2025 audit reports of the 10th teams disclosed on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, total revenue for the 10th teams reached 779.58 billion won, a 14% increase from 2024. This is the largest scale in history. Considering that the trend of increasing attendance continues this year, it is highly likely that total team revenue in 2026 will exceed 800 billion won. If the current growth momentum continues, the KBO League is expected to enter the era of a '1 trillion won revenue industry' soon.

Compared to just a few years ago, the change is nothing short of dramatic. In the past, baseball teams were close to 'money-eating tigers' from the perspective of their parent companies. Although teams reported management plans each year to improve financial independence, dependence on parent companies rarely decreased. Revenue remained stagnant while player operation costs and facility investment expenses continued to rise. Ultimately, parent companies had to cover the shortfall.

For example, if a team spends tens of billions of won to build a minor league practice field, it persuades the parent company that overseas closing training is no longer necessary. However, once the practice field is completed, the argument arises that training overseas is necessary to increase focus. From the parent company's perspective, the baseball team could only be seen as a 'boy who cried wolf.'

However, the situation has changed since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. As suppressed desires for outdoor activities were released, the popularity of professional baseball surged, leading to a change in the teams' revenue structure. Revenue from ticket sales, merchandise sales, advertising and sponsorships, and various ancillary businesses increased rapidly, raising the teams' financial independence. Naturally, the proportion of parent company subsidies is also decreasing.

Professional baseball is now recognized as a legitimate industry. It has succeeded in industrialization through increased attendance and expanded revenue. The problem lies in what comes next.

If past growth was driven by increased attendance and expanded fan consumption, future growth must come from strengthening the league's competitiveness and sustainability. In corporate terms, this means moving beyond the stage of external growth to enter the stage of advanced competitiveness.

In this regard, KBO teams also need to reconsider their investment direction. In recent years, the increased revenue has been used to a significant extent for player salary increases, FA acquisitions, and improvements in development infrastructure. Especially as market liquidity has increased, the value of FA players has risen faster than in the past.

Of course, strengthening the team's roster is the top priority for teams. What fans want most is ultimately victory. The best product of a baseball team is naturally the players and their performance. Therefore, securing and retaining good players is the core of team management.

However, for the professional baseball industry to maintain its current level of popularity continuously in the future, investment for the future must also be made. From the perspective of corporate management, to connect current performance into sustainable competitiveness, investment in research and development (R&D) and human resource development (HRD) must follow.

A baseball team's R&D can be described as investment in creating future strength, including player development systems, data analysis, sports science, and the establishment of scouting networks. At the same time, it includes activities that enhance business competitiveness, such as improving fan experience, developing digital content, advancing marketing, and discovering new revenue models.

HRD is investment in enhancing the capabilities of the entire organization, not just players, but also coaches, front office staff, data analysts, and marketing personnel. Ultimately, turning today's commercial revenue into future competitiveness depends on how consistently investment is made in players, the organization, and business capabilities.

The reason global companies like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor spend trillions of won on research and development every year is simple. Future competitiveness comes from research and development. If one thinks only of immediate profits, reducing research and development expenses is better. However, no company has grown continuously by doing so.

According to the "2024 Top 1000 Domestic Companies' R&D Investment Results" released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Industrial Technology Advancement (KIAT), the R&D investment of the top 1000 domestic companies in R&D investment reached 836 billion won, the highest in history. The R&D investment ratio (R&D Intensity) against sales for these companies was 4.8%. Technology-leading companies like Samsung Electronics invest more than 10% of their sales in research and development.

The same applies to human resource development (HRD). Global companies are continuously investing in education, training, leadership development, and job retraining. Although there are differences between companies, leading companies are known to invest in talent development ranging from around 1% to as much as 2-3% of their sales. This is because it is viewed as an investment, not a cost, to create future competitiveness.

Compared to domestic large corporations that view research and development and talent development as the source of future competitiveness and invest consistently, professional baseball still has a high proportion of investment focused on players. As the industry scale has grown, there is now a need to increase investment in systems and people as well.

This is also the reason why Major League Baseball teams operate analysis organizations with dozens of members and invest massive resources in player development systems. It is more efficient to create players than to buy them.

KBO teams have also judged that player development is important over the past 10 years and have invested significantly in system construction. They have improved minor league facilities, established data analysis departments, and introduced tracking equipment and sports science equipment. This is a clear development compared to the past.

However, there is still a long way to go. This is because the focus of investment is still concentrated on players. While spending a lot of money on acquiring FA players, they are relatively stingy on strengthening organizational capabilities to support those players.

Looking at the recent revenue structure of professional baseball teams, ticket revenue remains important, but the proportion of goods business, content business, sponsorships, and brand collaborations is growing larger. In the future, the ability to create experiences and content that fans want to consume will be necessary.

This ultimately comes down to people. It is possible only with good players, as well as good front office staff and a good organization. In fact, American professional sports teams have long recognized HRD as an important investment item. They operate employee training programs, secure data personnel, and cultivate sports business experts. This is because they know that enhancing the capabilities of the entire organization is itself competitiveness.

The author also experienced this importance firsthand. During a seven-month front office internship at the Pittsburgh Pirates of the U.S. Major Leagues in 2004, the author's perspective on baseball administration broadened significantly. New perspectives were gained on everything from player development and scouting systems to marketing, fan services, and overall team operations. This experience became the foundation for SK Wyverns to pursue 'Sportainment' in 2007, which posed a new issue in the professional baseball world.

Investment in people may not yield visible results immediately. However, in the long run, it is the most certain investment to change an organization's competitiveness. Such opportunities for experience and education are urgently needed for the front offices of KBO teams now. Just as player development systems are the result of long-term investment, front office competitiveness is not created overnight. Intentional investment and education are required.

Just as large corporations invest 4-5% of sales in R&D and around 1% in HRD for future competitiveness, professional baseball teams are also at the point of considering a certain level of investment standards. Of course, baseball teams cannot be simply compared to manufacturing or IT companies. However, given that professional baseball has also grown into an industry with an annual revenue of 800 billion won, it can serve as a reference management indicator.

So, how much investment would be appropriate?

Considering that the annual revenue scale of the current 10 KBO teams is around 800 billion won, investing 4-5% of the operating budget in R&D would create an annual research and development fund of 32 billion to 40 billion won. Per team, this would be around 3.2 billion to 4 billion won. If even 1% is invested in HRD, each team can secure a talent development budget of around 800 million won. This is a scale that can promote the expansion of data analysis organizations, the construction of sports science infrastructure, the strengthening of international scouting networks, as well as the operation of front office training programs and the cultivation of sports business professionals.

A strong team is not a team that has many good players. It is a team with a good system. And a good system comes from consistent research and development and investment in people.

The current era of 1 million won spectators enjoyed by the KBO is the greatest opportunity in the history of Korean professional baseball. However, opportunities are not eternal. There is no guarantee that the current commercial boom will continue. The growth momentum can stop the moment baseball teams take today's success for granted.

That is why now is important.

The difference between organizations that invest in future competitiveness when revenue increases and those that do not will grow larger over time. Only teams that can connect today's commercial success into tomorrow's competitiveness can enjoy sustained success.

The fans created the era of 1 million won spectators. It is the teams' responsibility to continue the current boom continuously. One must prepare for the future while things are going well.

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

*This content was translated by AI.