'This is unbelievable' — a staggering 56% of all games sold out! 2026 KBO League surpasses 7 million spectators in the fewest games in history

*This content was translated by AI.

The 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League continues its unprecedented box-office dominance, surpassing 7 million spectators in the fewest games in league history.

The KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) announced on June 30, after completing all games, that a total of 60,028 spectators entered Jamsil, Gwangju, Changwon, and Gocheok stadiums, bringing the cumulative attendance for this season to 7,013,844.

As a result, the KBO League reached the 7th million spectator milestone in just 388 games, the fewest in history. This is 17 games fewer than last year's record of 405 games, marking the first time in league history that 7 million spectators were reached before 400 games.

This season, the KBO League continues to break the record for the fewest games each time it surpasses the 1st million spectator mark. This is a much faster pace than last year, which drew the all-time highest attendance of 12,312,519 spectators.

Surpassing 7 million spectators before the All-Star break scheduled for the 10th, the KBO League has now achieved 7 million spectators in the first half of the season for two consecutive years.

The pace of attendance growth by segment has also accelerated. After surpassing 60 thousand won spectators on June 17, the league reached 7 million in just 54 games and 13 days, breaking last year's record (55 games, 14 days) to set a new all-time record for the fewest games and shortest period. The current league average attendance is 10,087, an increase of approximately 8% compared to the same period last year.

By team, LG led with 960,058 home spectators, followed by Samsung with 904,271, making the two clubs the only ones to exceed 900,000 home spectators. They were followed by Doosan (821,394) and Lotte (740,091). In terms of average attendance, four clubs — LG (23,428), Samsung (23,186), Doosan (21,616), and Lotte (21,111) — are averaging over 20,000 spectators per game.

In terms of attendance growth rate, NC showed the steepest increase at 21% year-over-year (483,329 home spectators), followed by Kiwoom at 20% (553,302) and KT at 14% (569,759).

Record-breaking sellouts are also supporting the strong box office. Of the 388th games played this season, 218 games, or approximately 56.1%, were sold out, and the league average seat occupancy rate reached 87.7%.

In particular, Hanwha sold out 34 of its 37 home games, recording the most sellouts, and achieved a seat occupancy rate of 99.7%, effectively selling out every game. Samsung (occupancy rate 99.1%, 30 sellouts) and LG (occupancy rate 98.6%, 33 sellouts) also recorded high seat occupancy rates, leading the box office momentum.

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*This content was translated by AI.