The fans gave up KIA faced the scariest reality...Gwangju is the only city with fewer spectators during the historical season

Sep 12, 2025

The fans gave up KIA faced the scariest reality...Gwangju is the only city with fewer spectators during the historical season
The match between KIA and Lotte at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 11th. Lotte won over KIA. KIA players leave the ground after the game. Gwangju =Song Jeong-heon, Reporter Song@sportschosun.com/2025.09.11/



The driving force of professional sports is fans. KBO is in a festive mood this year with the largest number of spectators ever, but KIA Tigers' home audience is decreasing day by day. The 10,000 mark, which was the same as the Maginot Line, also collapsed.

KIA mobilized 9,614 spectators against Gwangju Lotte Giants on the 11th. On the 10th, he failed to mobilize 10,000 people for two consecutive days following 9,793 against the Samsung Lions in Gwangju. Since it filled only about a third of the 20,500 seats at Gwangju Kia Champions Field, the stands were clearly empty. It was also half of the average attendance of 16,013 KIA home games this year.

KIA won 4-0 against Samsung on the 10th to slightly increase its hopes for the fifth round. Nevertheless, fewer spectators came to watch the Lotte match than the previous day. Lotte's away crowd, which had been in a five-game losing streak before the game, may have been affected by the small number of away spectators.




KIA has played 60 games at home this year, with only the last two games failing to exceed 10,000 spectators. In the end, it can only be said that the performance had a great influence on the number of spectators. It is most reasonable to interpret it as a result of many fans giving up KIA's fall baseball. It's very painful, but it's a reality to accept.

The fans gave up KIA faced the scariest reality...Gwangju is the only city with fewer spectators during the historical season
The match between KIA and Lotte at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 11th. KIA Choi Hyung-woo hit a tiebreaking three-run home run against Lotte's Na Kyun-an in the fourth inning. The stands, which should have been full behind Choi Hyung-woo, are empty. Gwangju =Song Jeong-heon, Reporter Song@sportschosun.com/2025.09.11/
The fans gave up KIA faced the scariest reality...Gwangju is the only city with fewer spectators during the historical season
A match between KIA and Samsung held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 10th. Kia's nail penetrates the crisis of losing the bases with two outs in the fifth inning. Originally, Kia fans would fill up the away stands on the first base. Gwangju =Song Jeong-heon, Reporter Song@sportschosun.com/2025.09.10/
KBO is in a festive mood this year, mobilizing the largest number of spectators in its 44-year history. By the 11th, 11,159,737 people had visited the baseball stadium. There are voices saying that it is possible to attract 12 million spectators.

The number of KIA home games this season is 967,783, ranking seventh in the league.




Last year, when KIA won the integrated championship, it was fourth in the league with 1,259,249 spectators. The average attendance was 17,250. The LG Twins, which uses Jamsil Baseball Stadium (23,750 seats), Doosan Bears, and Samsung, which uses Daegu Samsung Lions Park (24,000 seats), were the top three players last year. Considering the size of the stadium, you can see how great Gwangju fans were.

However, the average attendance of KIA decreased by nearly 1,000 in a year. KIA is the only club with a decrease in the average number of spectators compared to last year.

In addition, Kiwoom (11,073, → 12,149) was the lowest in the league, and NC (12,261 → 10,427), which struggled to mobilize spectators due to its inability to use its home stadium in the aftermath of spectator deaths at the beginning of the season, also showed a very small increase in average spectators, but KIA was the only one who failed to do so.




The fans gave up KIA faced the scariest reality...Gwangju is the only city with fewer spectators during the historical season
The game between KIA and Lotte at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 11th. With no outs and runners on the first and second bases in the bottom of the first inning, KIA Kim Sun-bin hit a triple hit infield grounder. Gwangju =Song Jeong-heon, Reporter Song@sportschosun.com/2025.09.11/




This article was translated by Naver AI translator.