The Era of 13 Million Spectators: The Next Content for KBO is High School Baseball [Ryu Sun-kyu's Bizball]

*This content was translated by AI.

This season, the KBO League is racing toward a new box office record, surpassing last year's 12 million spectators. On the 19th, 95,487 fans attended games across five stadiums nationwide, bringing the season’s cumulative attendance to 8,007,967. The KBO League broke the 8th million mark in just 443 games this season, 22 games earlier than last year’s previous record of 465 games. At the current pace of popularity, it is expected to easily surpass last year’s all-time high attendance of 12,312,519. The excitement surrounding the KBO League is now showing signs of spreading beyond the first division to high school baseball.

Currently, the 60th President’s Cup National High School Baseball Tournament is being held in Pohang, Gyeongbuk. The Korea Baseball and Softball Association is live-streaming all matches of this tournament via its YouTube channel, with 500 to 1,000 concurrent viewers consistently tuning in even for weekday morning and afternoon games. The Korea Baseball and Softball Association began live-streaming high school baseball tournaments on YouTube starting from the 72nd Golden Spatula Cup in 2018.

The enthusiasm in the chat room is even more impressive. Parents of players, school alumni, and local baseball fans alike send real-time support, creating an atmosphere as if the cheering section of a baseball stadium has been moved online. Comments such as "○○ High School, fighting!" and "Let’s win today too" never stop flowing.

What is surprising is that the production quality of the broadcast is not particularly high. Most games are streamed using only two or three cameras, and even basic subtitles identifying players or statistics are often missing, making it difficult to easily identify which pitcher is on the mound or which batter is at the plate. Although a caster has been explaining game situations since 2024 in the President’s Cup currently held in Pohang, production conditions remain limited compared to professional baseball broadcasts. Nevertheless, a significant number of viewers continue to watch the games consistently.

Some individual YouTube channels are also broadcasting high school baseball with their own commentary, attracting considerable attention as well. This demonstrates that there is demand for the content itself, even more so than for its production quality.

Interest from baseball fans in the annual KBO Rookie Draft is also exploding. Sports specialty channels are live-streaming the event, while TV and YouTube platforms are flooded with draft predictions and analyses of promising prospects. The YouTube channel 'KBO Offner' has been live-streaming the rookie draft since 2024, recording hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers, and last year, the official Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) YouTube channel also confirmed high interest through its live broadcasts. The popularity of the draft naturally leads to increased interest in high school baseball.

Interest in high school baseball content has noticeably grown recently. Before the launch of professional baseball in 1982, high school baseball was the country’s premier sports content. National tournaments such as the President’s Cup, Golden Spatula Cup, Cheongryonggi, and Bonghwanggi received nationwide attention. However, after the launch of professional baseball, fans’ interest naturally shifted to the pro level, and high school baseball gradually became less popular among the general public.

Now, high school baseball is coming back to life online. Baseball fans are no longer consuming only current star players. They have begun to learn about future stars in advance, follow the rookie draft, and enjoy the entire story of a player’s growth process after their professional debut. Just as Major League Baseball (MLB) fans consistently track MLB drafts and minor league prospects, 'prospect content' is establishing itself as a new fan culture within the KBO League.

The KBO League, which ushered in the era of 10 million spectators in 2024, now faces a point where it must pay attention not only to 'current popularity' but also to 'future growth.' In this regard, high school baseball is one of the largest content assets that the KBO has yet to fully utilize. With slightly more investment and storytelling, there is a high possibility that it could grow into a new baseball content comparable to professional baseball.

As high school baseball content grows, so too will the number of future professional baseball fans. Therefore, this is not just a challenge for the Korea Baseball and Softball Association but also an issue that the KBO must address together.

If the Korea Baseball and Softball Association finds it difficult to invest sufficiently in broadcast production due to financial limitations, the KBO should consider actively cooperating. As of July 24, the KBO YouTube channel has approximately 478,000 subscribers, far surpassing the Korea Baseball and Softball Association’s channel with about 28,700 subscribers. If high school baseball were broadcast jointly on the KBO YouTube channel, it could reach many more baseball fans. Utilizing a large-scale platform to expand the reach of content is an investment with significant cost-effectiveness.

Additionally, improving the broadcast production environment using funds from the Sports Promotion Lottery (Sports Toto) organizer support program is another option. Increasing the number of cameras and enhancing broadcast quality could elevate the competitiveness of high school baseball content to a higher level. If promising prospect stories, school-based rivalries, draft predictions, and data analysis content are added, high school baseball will grow into far more attractive content than it is today.

There are also areas that can be improved without a large budget. Currently, the most inconvenient aspect for viewers in high school baseball YouTube broadcasts is the difficulty of quickly identifying which batter is at the plate and which pitcher is on the mound, as well as the batting order and pitch count. Even without building a separate broadcast system, simply displaying the stadium scoreboard screen alongside the broadcast feed could significantly alleviate this inconvenience. In fact, some professional baseball teams already use this method in their Futures League broadcasts. It is a practical way to greatly improve the viewing experience with minimal cost.

The KBO has been consistently investing in amateur baseball development through youth baseball scholarship programs, support for founding elementary, middle, and high school baseball clubs, and operating Next Level Training Camps. Now, it is necessary to expand this focus from player development to content development as well.

As high school baseball content grows, more fans will watch the growth process of promising prospects, show interest in the rookie draft, and continue to support these players even after their professional debut. High school baseball can serve not only as a talent supply system for professional baseball but also as a platform that creates future fans. This forms a virtuous cycle where high school baseball and professional baseball enhance each other’s value.

Today’s high school baseball does not lack fans; rather, the structure makes it difficult for fans to discover and access content. Addressing this issue should be the priority.

The era of 13 million spectators signifies the success of the KBO League. However, to sustain this success 10 or 20 years from now, we must nurture future fans. Surprisingly, the starting point is quite close. Even now, hundreds of fans watch high school baseball on weekday afternoons, cheering for future stars.

Growing that small interest into larger content and connecting professional baseball and high school baseball into a single ecosystem. Could this not be the next strategy that the KBO League must prepare for to achieve sustainable growth?

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*This content was translated by AI.