"It's so hard to watch baseball." Ticketing...Let's root out the popularity of KBO, fan-inspiring scalpers
"It's so hard to watch baseball." Ticketing...Let's root out the popularity of KBO, fan-inspiring scalpers
Blog Article
The popularity of professional baseball is alarming. He has set records for the first time in history since the opening two consecutive games, raising expectations for 10 million spectators for the second consecutive year.먹튀검증
All the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League games held at five stadiums across the country on the 23rd were sold out. Jamsil Lotte Giants-LG Twins match (23,750), Munhak Doosan Bears-SSG Landers match (23,000), Suwon Hanwha Eagles-KT Wiz match (18,700), Gwangju NC Dinos-KIA Tigers match (25,000), and Daegu Kiwoom Heroes-Samsung Lions match (24,000) were all packed without a doubt.
The day before the opening game, all tickets for the opening series were sold out for two consecutive games. This is the first time in the history of the KBO league that all tickets for the opening two consecutive games were sold out for the first time based on the Saturday series. The total number of spectators for the two consecutive games is 219,100, which is the largest number ever for the opening series.
As soon as the season begins, fans are constantly waiting for baseball all winter long. However, many fans complain that it is too hard to watch "Yochi Baseball." The explosive popularity of baseball leads to "war" from ticket reservation. The number of simultaneous users of the website has more than doubled year-on-year, with some 200,000 simultaneous users. Baseball fans are engaged in a fierce ticketing war, which has paralyzed websites due to flooding of servers.
The bigger problem is that the popularity of baseball is on the back of scalpers. Ticketing agents who buy tickets in droves using macro programs and sell them for more than several times the regular price are exploiting fans' desire to enjoy baseball in the field.
Even online ticket fraud is on the rise. KIA posted on its SNS account on the 23rd, "The methods and damages have been diversified, such as delivering fake smart tickets or inducing deposits and going into hiding. I hope fans will never purchase scalpers to prevent damage. The club will also do its best to reduce the damage caused by scalpers."
While the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency has started operating a dedicated investigation team to crack down on ticketing activities in time for the opening of baseball league, it is about time that KBO and the team made proactive moves to root out ticketing activities. Another way is to ban pre-sale tickets or season tickets from transferring them.
LG's team was the first to take strong action. After the opening game ticket, which was booked as an annual member pre-sale benefit on the 21st, was caught attempting to sell illegally online, it canceled the ticket purchase details and deprived the seller of his long-term membership in accordance with the guidance that he would not be able to join an annual member in the future and participate in all events run by the club. LG promised, "The club will continue to monitor ticket fraud and strive to form a healthy viewing culture."
The KBO League reached 10.887,705 last year, surpassing the dream 10 million spectators for the first time in the history of domestic professional sports. Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for outdoor activities has increased, and the popularity of baseball is unrivaled. As a daily sport that can be enjoyed six games a week, every day, it has become a cost-effective leisure activity in the era of high prices.
With the emergence of young stars in each team, the number of new fans has increased, centering on female fans in their 20s and 30s. Since March last year, when the team allowed the use of shorts for less than 40 seconds through a wired and wireless broadcasting right contract, young fans have been consuming baseball with a much wider variety of contents. The popularity of baseball has reached its peak, as it has successfully attracted new fans in their 10s and 20s, away from old sports.
With the opening of Hanwha Life Ballpark, the new stadium in Daejeon, the number of baseball stadiums with 20,000 seats has increased, and the team aims to attract 10 million spectators for the second consecutive year. It is the most popular sport in Korea in name and reality, but at times like this, we need to root out scalpers and create a healthy viewing culture. The fever that will turn out can go away in an instant. The more successful the game is, the better the management should be. It is time for the KBO and its clubs to put their heads together to root out scalpers, rather than sitting on the sidelines due to the influence of 10 million spectators.