The KBO League, aiming to write the myth of 10 million spectators for two consecutive years, started its record-breaking attendance journey from the opening game.

The KBO announced that a total of 109,950 spectators attended the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season opening game held at five stadiums on the 22nd. It marked the third consecutive year of a sold-out opening game, ranking second for the most spectators ever at an opening game.

At the NC Dinos vs. KIA Tigers game held at Gwangju KIA Champions Field, 20,500 spectators (sold out) attended, while 23,750 spectators (sold out) were present at the Lotte Giants vs. LG Twins game in Jamsil. The game between the Doosan Bears and SSG Landers at Incheon SSG Landers Field drew 23,000 spectators (sold out), and 24,000 spectators (sold out) attended the Kiwoom Heroes vs. Samsung Lions game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. At the Hanwha Eagles vs. KT Wiz game held at Suwon KT Wiz Park, 18,700 spectators (sold out) attended.

The record for the most spectators at an opening game was set in 2019. On March 23, 2019, 114,021 fans visited the stadium.

Additionally, the record for the most spectators in a single day based on five games ranked third all-time. The highest single-day attendance for five games was achieved on Children's Day, May 5, 2016, with 114,085 attendees. The second highest was the 114,021 from the opening game on March 23, 2019, followed by this year's opening game.

Last year, the KBO League rode a wave of unprecedented popularity. With 10,887,705 spectators, it set a new record for the most attendees ever. It also broke the 10 million spectator mark for the first time in the history of Korean professional sports.

The popularity from last year continued into this year's exhibition games. On the opening game of the exhibition series on the 8th, 67,264 spectators attended, marking a record high. The next day, over 70,000 entered for the first time in the exhibition games, recording 71,288 attendees, the highest single-day attendance ever in the exhibition series.

Also, a total of 321,763 spectators attended the 42 exhibition games this year, achieving an average attendance of 7,661 per game, breaking the record for the highest average attendance in exhibition history.

This year, all 10 teams started foreign pitchers in the opening game. In Gwangju, NC's Logan Allen faced KIA's James Neale; in Jamsil, Lotte's Charlie Barnes faced LG's Yoni Chirinos; in Incheon, Doosan's Cole Irvin faced SSG's Drew Anderson; in Daegu, Kiwoom's Kenny Rosenberg faced Samsung's Ariel Hurado; and in Suwon, KODI's Cody Ponce faced KT's Emmanuel De Jesus. Local starting pitchers like Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha), Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG), and Yang Hyun-jong (KIA) were absent.

The KBO drew attention from fans by introducing new systems such as the Automatic Ball Strike System (ABS) and base size expansion last year, leading to an improvement in fairness. This year, it formally introduced the pitch clock system, once again trying to implement changes. Additionally, the length of extra innings was reduced from 12 to 11.

ABS also set a new strike zone after slightly adjusting it based on feedback from the field last year and enlarged the range for the batter-runner's first base three-foot line, unifying it throughout the park. Additionally, when determining fair/foul or a batter's foul/miss, video reviews were expanded to include whether a ball hit the batter-runner's body or equipment during their running process both inside and outside of the batter's box.

The time for matches during heat waves was also changed from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and standardization of velocity display on broadcasts and stadium scoreboards was attempted.

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