“In the past, the opposing team’s light sticks would spill over into our section…” KT on the verge of its first-ever 10 thousand won home fans; why Manager Lee Kang-cheol felt even prouder

*This content was translated by AI.

The atmosphere at Suwon KT Wiz Park has changed. For Lee Kang-cheol (60), manager of the KT Wiz, who once looked out at empty stands every time the national anthem was played, Suwon is now a baseball stadium filled with the light sticks of home fans.

On the 4th, in a regular season home game against the Lotte Giants at Suwon KT Wiz Park during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League, KT drew 2-2 after an 11-inning tiebreaker.

Maintaining its five-game winning streak, KT improved to a record of 85 wins, 5 draws, and 49 losses, widening the gap to 3.5 games over second-place Samsung Lions (82 wins, 3 draws, 53 losses), who suffered a 0-12 shutout loss to the Doosan Bears on the same day. Consequently, KT’s magic number for clinching the regular season title dropped from “4” to “2.”

However, there was another significant number at Suwon that day, rivaling the standings in importance. With all 18,700 seats sold out one hour before the game started, KT recorded its 27th sellout of the season. The cumulative home attendance reached 985,572 fans. Only 14,428 fans remain for KT to reach its first-ever milestone of 10 thousand won home attendees. Considering the capacity of Suwon KT Wiz Park, if the next home game also sells out, KT will immediately surpass the 1st million mark.

This is a particularly special number for KT, the youngest franchise in the KBO. Since entering the first division in 2015, KT attracted a franchise-record 979,411 home fans last year but fell short of the 1st million mark by 29,059 fans. Even then, with 24 sellouts and nine consecutive sold-out games in a single season, the team confirmed its box-office potential. This year, KT has already surpassed last year’s franchise record for sellouts.

For Manager Lee Kang-cheol, who took charge in 2019 and is now in his eighth year as the longest-serving manager in KT’s history, the numbers carry meaning beyond mere statistics. When he first arrived, there were not a few days when it was difficult to feel the atmosphere of a “home stadium” at Suwon KT Wiz Park.

Manager Lee recalled, “(When attendance was low) our voices could be heard all the way up in the stands, so I would tell (the coaches) to ‘be quiet.’” He continued, “I look at the stands every time the national anthem is played. In my first and second years, the opposing fans often spilled over to the left side (from the perspective of the scoreboard). But at some point, our fans started gradually spilling over to the opposite side. That made me feel very proud. I told (Hong Bo (Team Lead)) that ‘our fan base has grown quite a bit, hasn’t it?’ From one day on, our fans started filling up the stands more and more, and I was truly grateful.”

Recently, he has also felt the change outside the stadium. Manager Lee said, “In the past, if you wore a baseball uniform out in public, people would wonder ‘what does that person do?’ But these days, it’s actually embarrassing not to wear one. It has become a fashion statement.” He added, “Walking around, I think ‘we have really improved a lot.’ I am truly grateful to the fans.”

KT has also consistently put in effort to keep fans coming. Ahead of this season, the team renovated the exterior walls and all seating at Suwon KT Wiz Park, expanding the cheering sections and table seats. It strengthened the kids’ space, food facilities, and wayfinding system for family visitors, and introduced “AI stadium” elements such as an AI cheer pool and RFID self-checkout, leveraging its parent company’s strengths.

The team also improved viewing convenience by providing reservation, ticketing, and parking information in one place through its official application, “Wiz App.” Ahead of the 1st million fan milestone, KT added more fan services. It prepared skybox invitations for the 2027 season for customers who purchased tickets in increments of 10,000 from the 910th,000th to the 990th,000th ticket. The customer who purchases the 1st millionth ticket will receive a season pass for designated cheering seats and skybox access for the next season.

Moreover, victories have become nourishment for the fan base. Since entering the first division in 2015, KT has a shorter history compared to other franchises. Rather than having a fan base that naturally passed down through generations over many years, the team is closer to one that must build new fans one by one alongside its wins. Under Manager Lee’s leadership, KT has advanced to the postseason for five consecutive years since 2020, his second year in charge, and achieved its first-ever double crown (winning both the regular season and Korean Series) in 2021. The team returned to the Korean Series stage again in 2023.

By delivering more wins than losses and repeating autumn baseball, scenes and stories to remember alongside KT have accumulated for Suwon baseball fans. Suwon KT Wiz Park, where the opposing team’s cheers once sounded louder, has gradually become a true “KT home” in that way. The first-ever 10 thousand won home fans is another result born from that time.

Manager Lee stated his conviction: “Teams like KIA or LG have die-hard fans, so they naturally draw large crowds. But if we don’t perform well, our fans may not come.” He then conveyed his sincerity: “We must always produce results. (The better we perform) the more fans come accordingly, so I am only grateful.”

That is why his feelings when looking at the stands recently are all the more special. The longest-serving manager in KT’s history believes that now, even in the Korean Series, they can expect a proper “home atmosphere” no matter which team they face. Manager Lee smiled and said, “In the past, if you looked at the outfield, the opposing team’s light sticks would all spill over to our side. But these days, you can see far more of our light sticks. Seeing that makes me feel we have improved a lot.” He added, “If things continue like this, we can handle the Korean Series too. In the past, it would have been hard to imagine tickets being difficult to get in Suwon, but now it’s different. It seems things are really going well right now.”

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*This content was translated by AI.