The LG Twins, Lotte Giants, and KIA Tigers finished April with good results, leading the box office in the KBO League.
This season, the KBO League had a lot of bad news at the beginning of the season. At the World Baseball Classic (WBC) held in March, the Korean national team received a poor report card of being eliminated in the first round of three consecutive tournaments, Seo Jun-won’s alleged abduction of minors, the controversy over former general manager Jang Jeong-seok’s demand for money and valuables, and Lee Cheon-woong’s illegal gambling. It wasn’t.
Because of this, there was a lot of concern about the KBO league’s box office success, but the result was different from what was expected. In the opening game on the 1st of last month, all 5 stadiums were sold out, and 105,450 people entered, recording the highest number of spectators ever for an opening game. The average spectator was 10,545, which was higher than last year (8,439) and 2019 (10,119) before Corona 19.
In particular, exceeding the average audience in 2019 is significant in that it proves that it has fully recovered from the aftermath of Corona 19. Compared to April 2019 (average audience 10,122), the average audience in April this year is higher. It should be taken into account that the 2019 season opened on March 23, earlier than this year, but it is noteworthy that the pre-COVID-19 crowd has recovered.
The teams that led the box office success of the KBO League were definitely LG, Lotte, and KIA. These three teams, the most popular teams in the KBO League, so-called ‘Ellotgi’, ranked 1st with Lotte (14-8), 3rd with LG (15-11), and 5th with KIA (12-11). Finished April in the postseason berth. In particular, the rise of Lotte, which recently won 8 consecutive wins and took first place alone, is amazing.
Looking at the average attendance in April, LG ranked first (16,094), followed by SSG (15,695) and Samsung (10,835). Lotte (10,203 people) ranked 4th and KIA (8381 people) stayed at 7th place. 스포츠토토
Due to the nature of local clubs, the average number of spectators for home games was not as high as expected, but the box office power of Lotte and KIA can be seen from the average number of spectators for away games. As for the average attendance of away games, Lotte (15,308) ranked first and KIA (14,943) ranked second, proving once again the status of the most popular team in the KBO League.
LG, Lotte, and KIA have never advanced to the postseason. As a joke, there is even a saying that the KBO’s most cherished wish is to advance into the postseason with LG, Lotte, and KIA. Can the three teams that led the box office success of the KBO League in April maintain their upward momentum until the end of the season and advance to the postseason for the first time in history?