13,767 → 9744 Shortened…How amazing was the KBO League's box office hit with over 200 million people

Sep 12, 2025

13,767 → 9744 Shortened…How amazing was the KBO League's box office hit with over 200 million people
The game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Lotte Giants at Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon on the 13th. Daejeon Ball Park recorded the highest sales record (48th) in a season. Daejeon = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.08.13/



13,767 → 9744 Shortened…How amazing was the KBO League's box office hit with over 200 million people
A game between the LG Twins and the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Stadium on the 2nd. It was the 37th time of the season that all seats were sold out. Jamsil = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.09.02/
The KBO League left a meaningful indicator in its 44th season since its launch.

KBO announced on the 12th that "The KBO League achieved a cumulative regular season audience of 200 million in its 44th season."

The KBO League entered the 2025 season with 11,158,956 people left until it reached 200 million spectators with a cumulative 188,841,044 in 22,860 regular season games from 1982 to last year.




Until the 11th, 11,159,737 spectators entered, recording a cumulative 2781 regular season

The KBO League was launched on March 27, 1982 with the slogan `Dream for Children, Enthusiasm for Young People, and for the good use of leisure by all citizens.'

In 1982, the first year of its establishment, 1,438,768 spectators visited the ballpark and made a successful start in 240 games under six clubs. The following year, in 1983, it exceeded 2 million in one season with 2,256,121, and has since established itself as a national sport with continuous growth, achieving 3 million in 1990, 4 million in 1993, and 5 million in 1995.




After a period of stagnation from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, it began to attract a lot of attention from fans again due to its good performances in international competitions, such as advancing to the semifinals of the 2006 WBC and winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2008, it recovered 5 million spectators for the first time in 13 years since 1995, and achieved 6 million spectators in 2011 and 7 million in 2012, the following year, enjoying its second heyday thanks to the explosive increase in spectators.

In 2015, with the establishment of the 10-club system, it formed a thick fan base with an increase in the number of games, achieving 7 million spectators again in three years, and the first 8 million spectators in 2016.

13,767 → 9744 Shortened…How amazing was the KBO League's box office hit with over 200 million people
KBO League Kiwoom and Hanwha at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 6th. Gocheok Dome, which recorded a new Kiwoom club record of nine consecutive games sold out. Gocheok =Reporter Song Jeong-heon@sportschosun.com/2025.07.06/
From 2020 to 2022, it was slowed down for a while due to social distancing and restrictions on the number of people entering and fostering support due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after that, as daily life recovered in earnest, fans began to move to the ballpark again.




In 2023, it achieved 8 million spectators for the first time in five years, setting the stage for another leap forward. In 2024, the introduction of ABS and the effect of allowing online video content were the catalyst, achieving the first 10 million spectators ever. Following the momentum in 2025, it achieved 10 million spectators for the second consecutive year, and on the 5th, it broke the record for the largest number of spectators recorded last year in a year.

While it took 13,767 games (July 21, 2011) to achieve 100 million spectators, the 100 million to 200 million spectators was achieved in 9,744 games due to the increase in the number of games due to the expansion of the team, the increase in capacity due to the opening of new stadiums, and the rise in popularity.

KBO said "We will continue to make efforts to realize active fan-first, improve infrastructure, and design fan-friendly policies so that more fans can visit and enjoy the ballpark in the future."



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.