Hanshin Koshien Stadium’s fan base explodes, average attendance tops 40,000 for first time in 4 years, surpasses Yomiuri as ‘top’
Daejeon Baseball Stadium, where the Hanwha Eagles and Samsung Lions played on March 3-4, was packed to capacity. For two consecutive days, 12,000 tickets were sold out. According to a club official, 13,000 seats were the standard for a full house until last year, when the outfield seats were converted to reserved seats, reducing the number by 1,000. On the third day, the tickets were sold out 1 hour and 12 minutes before the start of the game and 48 minutes after the start of the game on the fourth day. It was the first time in four years that the Hanwha players played in front of a full house since June 8, 2019, against the LG Twins.
Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, where the Lotte Giants and KIA Tigers played a three-game weekend series. On Saturday, the third day, 22,990 people attended the game. A total of 65,000 people enjoyed the different ‘Lotte Baseball’ over the three days. This season, Lotte has sold out five home games as it battles for first place.
Even the game between Lotte and Kiwoom Heroes on May 27-28 at the Gocheok Dome in Seoul was filled with 16,000 seats for two consecutive days.
As the COVID-19 era passes, popular teams are performing well, and baseball stadiums are overflowing. As of May 5, the KBO averaged 11,123 fans per game. That’s a 30% increase from the same point last year. SSG Landers 14,600
Lotte is first with 13,742, and Hanwha is 10th with 7330.
Nippon Professional Baseball is recovering just as quickly as the KBO.
Last year, the average attendance in both the Central and Pacific leagues was 24,558, but this year it was 28,077 through five days. The Central League increased from 28,222 to 32,057 in 2022, and the Pacific League increased from 28,895 to 23,944.
The Hanshin Tigers, who are in first place in the Central League, are leading the charge. The team’s 29 home games at Nishinomiya Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture (including one at Osaka Dome) attracted 118 net 3069 fans. The average attendance is 40,795. This is an increase of 4,000 fans per game from the 36,370 recorded in 72 games last season 토토사이트.
The Koshien Stadium, which hosted an interleague game against the Chiba Lotte Marines on May 5, drew 36,780 fans. This was despite the game being played on a Monday night, and Japanese sports publication Daily Sports called it a “phenomenal crowd mobilization by Hanshin. The game was held on Monday after the first day of the three-game weekend series, June 2, was canceled due to rain. The game ended in a 7-7 tie after 12 extra innings, the longest in Nippon Professional Baseball this year, lasting five hours and seven minutes. Hanshin remained in first place with two wins (one draw) in the three-game series against Chiba Lotte. They are 5.5 games behind the second-place Yokohama BayStars.
The team sold out three home games against the Yomiuri Giants on March 26-28. One game in Nippon Professional Baseball this year
It ranked 1-3 for the largest audience. A total of 127,853 people attended over the three days.
Hanshin’s “nemesis” Yomiuri Giants are second with 36,719 and the SoftBank Hawks are third with 34,700. Of the 12 teams in both leagues, Hanshin, Yomiuri, and SoftBank average over 30,000. The Rakuten Eagles are last with 18,178, 4,000 more than the KBO’s first-place SSG.
In 2019, the year before COVID-19, Hanshin (42,935) topped the attendance list ahead of Yomiuri (42,643). It looks like they’ll be back in the 40,000s for the first time in four years.