'Why Did Only the Two Most Popular Teams See a Drop in Attendance?' Lotte-Hanwha: 13 Million Milestone Likely to Be Missed 'For the Time Being'

*This content was translated by AI.

The 2026 KBO League continues its streak of setting new attendance records. However, only Lotte Giants and Hanwha Eagles, known as the league's most popular teams, have seen a decline in attendance compared to last year, drawing attention.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 11th that "cumulative season attendance reached 9,049,365, surpassing the 9th million mark in just 505 games—the fewest in history." This breaks the previous record of 528 games set in 2025 by 23 games. The league is also on track to achieve 10 million attendance for three consecutive years.

The average attendance this season stands at 17,920 per game, an increase of approximately 6% compared to the same number of games last year (16,904). Attendance rose across eight teams: NC Dinos led with an 18% increase, followed by KT Wiz at 15%, and Kiwoom Heroes at 11%.

In contrast, Lotte and Hanwha saw attendance decline by 4% and 1%, respectively, compared to last year.

This trend is believed to be linked to team performance. Until June 3—the point when the league surpassed 5 million total attendance this season—Lotte maintained an average attendance of 20,603, a 4% increase over last year. However, attendance has since declined and currently stands at 19,982. Lotte, which has not experienced postseason play since 2017, remains in eighth place this season as well.

Hanwha also saw a slight dip in average attendance from 16,876 last year to 16,731 this year. Although the team's new home stadium, Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, opened last year and drove a 53% surge in average attendance compared to the prior year, this season shows a more modest trend. As the runner-up last year, Hanwha currently sits in sixth place, five games behind fifth-place KIA Tigers, making their playoff prospects uncertain.

Fortunately, neither team faces a severe issue when considering stadium capacity. Hanwha holds the top spot for most sold-out home games (41 games), with a seat occupancy rate of 98.4% compared to its full capacity of 17,000. Lotte also enjoys popularity ranking fourth among all ten teams in terms of average attendance.

If the current KBO League average attendance is extrapolated across the full schedule of 720 games, the projected final attendance for this season would be 12,902,065—enough to surpass last year's record high of 12,312,519. However, due to a recent decline in attendance caused by prolonged rainy seasons and extreme heatwaves, the league is unlikely to reach the anticipated historic milestone of 13 million attendees for the first time.

Starting next year, Olympic Stadium will serve as a temporary replacement for Jamsil Baseball Stadium (maximum capacity: 23,750) over the next five years. Due to safety concerns and other factors, its seating capacity is expected to be around 13,000. In that case, home teams Doosan Bears and LG Twins are projected to see their attendance drop by roughly half. Given that the combined attendance for these two teams last year was 2.97 million (LG: 1.54 million, Doosan: 1.43 million), this would mean a reduction of approximately 1.5 million fans.

Whether the KBO League can reach its historic peak of 13 million attendance for the first time—and likely not again in the near future—now rests on the shoulders of Lotte and Hanwha fans for the remainder of the season.

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*This content was translated by AI.