KBO tops 9 million fans in record-low number of games

Korea’s professional baseball league surpassed 9 million spectators for the season in the fewest number of games on record, according to the KBO on Tuesday.

A total of 67,134 fans attended the five games on Tuesday, bringing the season’s cumulative attendance to 9,049,365 as of that day.

The league reached the 9 million mark after 505 games — 23 fewer than the 528 matches that it took to achieve the same feat last season — setting a new record for the fewest games played to reach the milestone.

This season, the KBO has set records for the fewest games needed to reach each million-attendee mark from 1 million to 9 million.

Average attendance per game stood at 17,920 as of Tuesday, up about 6 percent from the 16,904 recorded over the same period last year.

The LG Twins lead all clubs in visitors with a cumulative 1,183,556 spectators, followed by the Samsung Lions with 1,144,271.

The Doosan Bears have drawn 1,067,273 attendees so far this season, and the Lotte Giants have attracted 979,127.

Sellouts have also continued across the league. Of the 505 games played so far, 260, or about 51 percent, have sold out.

The league’s average stadium occupancy rate stands at 86.5 percent.

By club, the Samsung Lions lead with an average occupancy rate of 99.3 percent, followed by the Hanwha Eagles at 98.4 percent and the LG Twins at 95.8 percent.

BY SHIN HYE-YEON [shin.woojin@joongang.co.kr]