KBO preseason sets attendance record with 440,247 fans in 60 games

Fans cheer during a Doosan Bears-KIA Tigers preseason game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on March 22, six days before the regular-season opener. [Photo=Yonhap]

The KBO League drew a record number of fans to its preseason schedule this year.

The Korea Baseball Organization said Tuesday that 440,247 fans attended 60 games in the 2025 Shinhan SOL KBO League preseason through Monday, the highest single-season total in preseason history.

The previous record was 321,763 set last year.

With the regular season a week away, attendance topped 80,000 on consecutive days March 21-22, for a combined 163,626. On March 22, the KBO set a single-day preseason record with 83,584 fans.

Cumulative attendance rose 36.8% from a year earlier. Average attendance per game was 7,337, down about 4.2% from last year’s record 7,661 over 42 games, affected by eight games scheduled at Futures League parks such as Icheon and Masan.

Games averaged 2 hours, 52 minutes, up 7 minutes from last year. Strikeouts per game fell 4.4% to 14.45, while walks rose 0.3% to 7.88. The leaguewide ERA increased 35.0% to 5.25 from 3.89.

Hits per game climbed 12.7% to 18.23 from 16.17. Home runs rose 57.1% to 1.98 per game from 1.26, and batting average increased 9.0% to .267 from .245.

* This article has been translated by AI.

Kang Sang Heon ksh@ajunews.com