Fans cheer at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field during a Tuesday afternoon game between the Samsung Lions and the Kia Tigers, as a heat wave advisory was in effect across the Gwangju area. [Yonhap]
Fans cheer at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field during a Tuesday afternoon game between the Samsung Lions and the Kia Tigers, as a heat wave advisory was in effect across the Gwangju area. [Yonhap]

The Korea Baseball Organization League surpassed 9 million cumulative fans on the first day back from its summer heat break.

The KBO announced Tuesday that 67,134 fans attended games across five ballparks in the 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League, pushing the season's cumulative attendance to 9,049,365.

The 9 million mark was reached in 505 games this season — 23 fewer than the 528 games it took last season — setting an all-time record for the fewest games needed to reach that milestone.

This season has broken the previous record for fewest games needed at every attendance milestone from 1 million to 9 million, sustaining a remarkable surge in fan interest throughout the year.

The season is drawing fans at a faster pace than last year, when the KBO League became the first in its history to surpass 12 million in total attendance, and is widely expected to set a new all-time attendance record again.

Average attendance per game stands at 17,920, up about 6 percent from 16,904 over the same period last year.

Among individual clubs, the LG Twins lead in cumulative attendance with 1,183,556, followed by the Samsung Lions at 1,144,271.

The Doosan Bears have drawn 1,067,273 fans, while the Lotte Giants have recorded 979,127.

In average attendance per game, Samsung ranks first at 23,352, with LG second at 22,761.

Doosan averages 21,345, making three clubs that have each surpassed an average of 20,000 fans per game.

Sellouts have also been piling up throughout the season.

Of the 505 games played so far, 260 — roughly 51 percent — have sold out.

The Hanwha Eagles lead all clubs with 41 sellouts, followed by Samsung with 40 and LG with 36.

The league-wide average seat occupancy rate stands at 86.5 percent.

By club, Samsung tops the list at 99.3 percent, followed by Hanwha at 98.4 percent and LG at 95.8 percent — three teams that have each exceeded 90 percent seat occupancy.


husn7@heraldcorp.com