KBO notes significant rise in weekday attendance with 10-million mark in sight

As it breaks its own single-season attendance record with each passing day, the top South Korean baseball league on Thursday noted a substantial rise in the size of weekday crowds this year compared to past seasons.The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) released its latest attendance-related figures Thursday, a day after its 10 teams surpassed 9 million fans for the season.Fans watch a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game between the home team LG Twins and the KT Wiz at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Aug. 28, 2024. (Yonhap)The league set the single-season record on Aug. 18 by reaching 8,475,664 fans, topping a 7-year-old mark of 8,400,688.After five games on Wednesday, the KBO had drawn 9,000,904 fans with about a month left in the regular season.Teams are averaging 14,756 fans per game, which would be an all-time record if they were to sustain that for another month.Most notably, the KBO said teams have been averaging well over 10,000 fans per game for their three-game midweek ser ies from Tuesday to Thursday.Tuesday games have been drawing 11,863 fans, along with 12,834 fans for Wednesdays and 12,977 fans for Thursday. Last year, teams averaged below 10,000 fans on all three days.Weekend crowds have also jumped this year: 15,849 fans for Fridays, 18,641 for Saturdays and 16,802 for Sundays. Last year, only Saturday games attracted over 15,000 fans on average.According to the league, Friday-Sunday weekend games have accounted for just under 5.1 million fans, about 57 percent of the entire attendance number this year.Despite concerns that scorching conditions of August would keep fans away, KBO teams have drawn 15,398 fans per game so far in August, the second-highest monthly average of this season.Massive success in the stands has also translated to the league's popularity on social media. The KBO's Instagram now has about 379,000 followers, up from 236,000 at the end of last year. The league's YouTube channel has 214,000 subscribers now, compared to 98,000 in December last y ear.Source: Yonhap News Agency