South Korean baseball league hits 4 million fans at record pace

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean baseball league reached 4 million fans at the fastest pace in its history Thursday.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced that the attendance for the season amounted to 4,035,771 through 222 games played, with five games on the slate for Thursday drawing a combined 68,838 fans.

The previous record was the 230 games it took to reach 4 million in 2025. The KBO set a single-season record last year with just over 12.3 million fans and it remains on pace to break that mark this season.

On Thursday, the Hanwha Eagles hosted the Lotte Giants before a sellout crowd of 17,000 at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon. The Samsung Lions packed their alternate home stadium in Pohang with 12,120 fans on hand for a game against the KT Wiz.

At Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, 16,593 fans watched the Doosan Bears host the NC Dinos. The game at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field between the Kia Tigers and the LG Twins drew 15,082. Gocheok Sky Dome in the capital city had 8.043 fans for the tilt between the Kiwoom Heroes and the SSG Landers.

The KBO has cleared every million milestone so far this year at a record-breaking pace.

The league is averaging 18,179 fans per game so far, up from 16,839 at this point a season ago. All 10 teams have enjoyed an increase in their average attendance from last season.

With two more sellouts Thursday, the KBO has seen 130 out of 222 games played at packed stadiums. The sellout record for a season is 331 from 2025.