# On Aug. 26, the season's cumulative attendance for the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) reached 10,024,140. It took 565 games. This is the fastest in history, beating last year's mark—10 million in 587 games—by 22 games. After moving away from fanless games during the COVID-19 pandemic, it opened the era of 10 million fans in Korea's pro sports in 2024, and this is the third straight year.
# The fever showed up in numbers outside the ballpark. KBO 10-team collaboration goods released by CJ OnStyle in Apr. 2026 recorded first-day orders at 333% of the target, and 25,000 units sold in four days. The goods under the concept of "wishing for everyday wins" consisted of 12 items, including hand towels, picnic mats, and scarves. According to the limited-edition transaction platform "KREAM," from Jan. 1 to May 20, 2025, baseball goods transaction value rose 1,053% from a year earlier. A survey by Hankook Research of 1,000 adults nationwide in June found 73% said they feel the recent popularity of pro baseball, and even among respondents not interested in baseball, 49% said so.
Pro baseball, which is likely to surpass 13 million fans for the first time ever, is becoming a growth engine for Korea's sports economy. Hyundai Research Institute estimated the economic ripple effect generated by spending from pro baseball spectators in 2024 at 1.1121 trillion won. This is the production inducement amount, which measures how much spectator spending pulled production in related industries such as food and beverage, transportation, and distribution. Among this, newly created income such as wages and profits amounts to 465.3 billion won (value-added inducement), and jobs created directly and indirectly total the equivalent of 9,569 people (employment inducement).
Economy Chosun examined, through interviews with team executives at home and abroad and sports economists, how spectators at ballparks turn into revenue and where that money flows.
Her Fandom six out of 10 spectators are women
According to the Korea Professional Sports Association, women accounted for 56.7% of pro baseball spectators last year, surpassing men. Looking only at online bookers in their 20s, women were 63.6%. The share of spectators in their 20s and 30s was also 66.4%, higher than men's pro basketball (62.9%) and pro soccer (54.2%). The share who said they were willing to spend 30,000 to 90,000 won on attending was also highest for pro baseball at 61.4%. In a KBO fan propensity survey, average season goods expenditure by women in their 20s was 237,000 won and women in their 30s 273,000 won, exceeding the overall spectator average (235,000 won). This means young women who open their wallets have become a key customer group lifting league revenue. Changes felt on the ground are the same. Lotte Giants Business Division Head Kim Jong-ho said, "The share of women spectators rose from 53% last year to 55.1% this year," adding, "Spending patterns have also shifted from value for money to the quality of experience."
Immersive Experience team goods and premium seats drive revenue
Immersion in baseball also translated into sales of team goods. According to KREAM, from January to May, Hanwha Eagles goods transaction value jumped 296 times from a year earlier. SSG Landers and Doosan Bears goods transaction values rose 26 times and 14 times, respectively. Collecting uniforms and photo cards and buying collaboration items itself has become part of the viewing experience.
Teams are actively creating fun beyond the baseball game. The Lotte Giants in 2016 became the first in the KBO to put cartoon characters on uniforms, and since then, character collaborations have become a leaguewide box-office formula. They are also focusing on premiumization. At Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium, the most expensive Avenue L seats (150,000 won on weekends) and central table seats (up to 66,000 won) have occupancy over 99%, but outfield seats (up to 12,000 won) are around 85%. Various clubs are dividing seat classes like sky boxes and table seats and strengthening paid membership early-booking privileges, following the same trend.
Takeout Culture food and beverage bigger than ticket prices
Of the 556.3 billion won in direct spending by pro baseball spectators in 2024, ticket prices accounted for 196.4 billion won. Food and beverage was larger at 257.4 billion won. In other words, people spend more on eating and drinking than on buying tickets. According to BC Card analysis, as of July, food and beverage and convenience store sales at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium rose 30.6% from two years earlier, and food and beverage sales at Suwon KT Wiz Park increased 180% over the same period.
Noh Si-yeon, a research fellow at Hyundai Research Institute, finds the reason in the characteristics of baseball as a sport. "There is downtime between offense-defense switches and innings, so spectators can enjoy the game while eating or talking," Noh said. Unlike other sports venues, the accumulated experience of freely consuming and enjoying food while watching the game is boosting both revisit rates and spend per customer.
Rights for Broadcasting from 2 billion to 90 billion… rights fees up 45-fold
Rights fees for wired and wireless baseball broadcasts, which averaged 2 billion won annually from 2006 to 2013, rose to 9.3 billion won from 2014 to 2018, and 22 billion won from 2019 to 2023. From 2024 for three years, CJ ENM took them for an annual average of 45 billion won, and the 2027–2031 contract is 90 billion won per year. That is a 45-fold increase in 20 years.
This is not the old math of balancing profit and loss with advertising. Over-the-top (OTT) services view rights as platform assets that keep subscribers. After CJ ENM opened short-form use of game clips under 40 seconds on social media (SNS), shorts spread, and analysts say that led to rising attendance. Stefan Szymanski, a sports management professor at the University of Michigan, saw this as the same structure that drove explosive growth when Sky Sports in the United Kingdom monopolized Premier League (EPL) rights in the early 1990s. Whereas free-to-air TV once sought advertising revenue, live rights on OTT are the strongest exclusive asset to prevent subscriber churn. In particular, baseball's near-daily games produce overwhelming subscription retention effects, and as long as platform competition continues, rights fees are expected to keep trending upward.
Urban Economy 714.3 billion won spreading beyond the outfield wall
The economic effect of baseball games does not stay inside the ballpark walls. Hyundai Research Institute estimates 714.3 billion won of the 1.1121 trillion won in production inducement remains in home regions. Of the 9,569 equivalent jobs newly created, 7,254 are local. According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), same-day lodging reservations on game days were 13.9% higher in the regular season and 41.3% higher in the postseason than on non-game days. Outside the capital area, the increase was 4.2 times that of the capital area. One ballpark can shake up an entire urban commercial district.
Japan went so far as to design the ballpark as urban development. Hokkaido Ballpark F Village, which opened in 2023, recorded 4.59 million visitors last year, with more than half visiting on non-game days. From April 2025 to March this year, sales were 31 billion yen (about 280 billion won) and operating profit was 5.4 billion yen (about 49 billion won). Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Deputy Head of Business Headquarters Ito Naoya said, "Designing a content space that fans and citizens visit year-round regardless of game days was the key to success." Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting estimated F Village's annual economic effect across Hokkaido at 100 billion yen (about 861 billion won).
There is, however, a view that warns against such figures. Andrew Zimbalist, chair professor of economics at Smith College, noted, "Household leisure budgets are fixed," adding, "Money spent at the ballpark is money not spent at that city's restaurants, theaters, and bowling alleys." He said the substitution effect—where the total amount of local consumption does not grow but destinations change—overlaps with the leakage effect, in which money flowing to owners and players exits the city.
New Revenue Stream parent-company dependence 40%→25%
As new revenue sources take root for clubs, dependence on parent companies is falling. Based on audit reports submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service, total sales of the KBO's 10 clubs rose from 442.5 billion won in 2020 to 779.58 billion won in 2025. The share of parent-company support in sales fell from 40% in 2019 to 25% in 2025.
The Lotte Giants topped the 10 clubs last year with 16.56 billion won in operating profit, and half posted surpluses: Doosan Bears (8.71 billion won), Kiwoom Heroes (8.51 billion won), SSG Landers (4.93 billion won), and NC Dinos (470 million won). The Lotte Giants' dependence on its parent company fell from 59.4% in 2015 to 26.2% last year.
The remaining task is the sustainability of self-sufficiency. Research fellow Noh said, "We should develop ballparks into regional culture and leisure spaces that combine shopping, dining, performances, and tourism; reduce the burden on local governments by using private capital and national funds together; and guarantee clubs long-term operating and revenue rights." Zimbalist reminds us of the costs on the other side. In the United States, stadium construction costs that were $150 million (about 206.7 billion won) in the 1980s–90s have now jumped to $1 billion–$5 billion (about 1.378 trillion–6.89 trillion won), and a substantial share is still shouldered by the public, meaning the bill will come due not only for baseball fans but also for the taxpayer, he warned.