KBO sets new attendance record in huge sell-out season

The milestone comes with three weeks to go before the end of the regular season, after which the top five teams will begin a campaign to become this year’s Korean Series champions.

A sold-out crowd watches the game between the Kia Tigers and the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on Sunday as the KBO set a new record for single-season attendance, surpassing the previous high in 2017. [YONHAP]

Baseball in Korea is officially having its biggest year yet. The KBO set a new record for the best single-season attendance over the weekend, reaching 8,475,664 fans Sunday with all 10 teams in action across the country.

The milestone comes with three weeks to go before the end of the regular season, after which the top five teams will begin a campaign to become this year’s Korean Series champions.

The previous record in a single KBO season was 8,400,688 fans over 720 games in 2017. This year, fans notched the new mark in just 573 games — about 80 percent of the way through the calendar, according to the KBO.

A total of 91,527 people turned out for games in five stadiums around Korea on a sweltering summer afternoon, with the league-leading Kia Tigers and the LG Twins playing in front of a sold-out crowd at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul.

There were 23,750 people in the audience to watch the Tigers beat the Twins 4-0, finishing a week in Seoul with a sweep. And, before that, watch Wonpil and Young K of K-pop group Day6 throw the first pitch.

The Gwangju club won their games 3-2 and 14-4 on Friday and Saturday respectively after picking up two wins and one loss against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul — 2-0, 2-1, 12-1 — earlier in the week.

Kia Tigers' Socrates Brito is safe during the game against the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul Sunday. [NEWS1]

And the other four stadiums saw packed stands, too. The game between the Hanwha Eagles and the SSG Landers at Munhak Baseball Stadium in Incheon drew 22,545 fans and Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan with the Heroes and the Lotte Giants had a crowd of 20,740.

The Samsung Lions played the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Stadium in Changwon, North Gyeongsang before 12,328 fans and Suwon Baseball Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi had 12,164 people come out to watch the Doosan Bears play the KT Wiz.

This season’s 573 games have averaged 14,792 in-person fans, according to the KBO. Breaking the record was only a matter of time.

In July, the KBO surpassed six million spectators in record time, reaching the mark in the final days of action before the All-Star break. This year’s season had already seen the highest-ever number of sold-out games since the league grew to 10 clubs in 2015, with fans selling out 116 games by the end of the first half.

Fans had sold out 160 games as of Saturday, according to the KBO, with Sunday’s game between the Tigers and the Twins pushing the figure up to 161.

The Eagles have sold out the most home games among the 10 clubs, selling out 41 of 60 home games as of Saturday, the KBO said in a press release. The Daejeon club have sold out a record 17 straight home games.

The KBO has grown outside of the ballpark, too, with games again available to be streamed live outside of Korea on the platform SOOP as of June.

It was a weekend of sweeps, with the Lions beating the Dinos 7-3, 5-4, 5-3 to sit in second place on the 10-team table and the Eagles beating the Landers 2-1, 8-5, 7-1. The Bears went 2-1 over the Wiz and the Giants did the same against the Heroes.

The Dinos, who made it to the postseason last year, have the longest losing streak across the league, with 10 straight losses on the books. They next face the Eagles at Cheongju Baseball Stadium in Cheongju, North Chungcheong on Tuesday while the Heroes head down to Suwon to meet the Wiz.

The Giants are playing the Tigers at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, the Landers are challenging the Twins at Jamsil while the Lions are hosting the Bears at Pohang Baseball Stadium in Pohang, North Gyeongsang.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]