The 2017 Korean Series championship season was not that bad. The Kia Tigers have attracted more than 1 million home spectators for at least one game thanks to its all-time high popularity. At the center of attention was Kim Do-young (21), who broke new KBO league and club records when bored.
After the game against Gwangju SSG Landers on the 28th, the KIA team officially announced, ” 13,155 spectators entered on the day, surpassing 1 million spectators with a cumulative audience of 1 million 215 this season.”메이저사이트
This is the second time since the opening of Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in 2014 and the first time in seven years since 2017. In addition, it has attracted 1 million spectators in 59 games, moving up the record of 70 games in 2017 by 11 games.
Now, Kia is set to set a new record of the largest number of spectators and sold-out in its history. The previous record was 1,0244,830 in 2017, with only 24,615 left, which is highly likely to be achieved this week at the earliest. The Champions Field sold-out is also the highest among teams with 21 times, which could be achieved within this season.
KIA’s all-time spectatorship was largely attributed to the KBO League’s explosive increase in popularity this season. This season alone, Doosan Bears, Samsung Lions and LG Twins exceeded 1 million spectators, ahead of KIA.
The mere increase in popularity of the KBO league does not explain Kia’s mobilization of home spectators. KIA is a popular national team that has never missed the top spot in away games except for the season (2020-2021) when the number of spectators was limited due to COVID-19 from the 2017 championship season to the last season.
However, the mobilization rate of spectators at home games was not as high as that of away games. While the total number of seats at home was less than 20,500, the average number of spectators hovered around 10,000. In the 2017 championship season, the team ranked fourth with 14,234 spectators. It is different this year. Already, the average number of spectators at home games has reached 16,953, surpassing the 2017 championship season.
The reason for this is the awakening of Kim Do-young, who was born in Gwangju Metropolitan City and called the second Lee Jong-beom. After graduating from Gwangju Daesung Elementary School, Gwangju Dongseong Middle School, and Gwangju Dongseong High School, Kim Do-young joined KIA with the first nomination of the 2022 KBO Rookie Draft. In his third year of debut, he is running towards the MVP season with a batting average of 0.344 (160 hits in 465 at-bats), 33 homers, 94 RBIs, 119 runs and 36 steals in 121 games.
It’s not just outstanding performance. Like Lee Jong-beom in the past, he is making a box office hit by breaking various records in the KBO league like he did in the past. After achieving 10 home runs-10 steals per month for the first time in the KBO in April, he became the fifth player in history to succeed in 20 home runs-20 steals even before the first half ended. On July 23, he succeeded in natural cycling hit at least at bat with a hit-double-triple-homer in the match against the Gwangju NC Dinos, and on August 15, he made 30 home runs-30 steals in the youngest and least game in history against the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes.
The 21-year-old player’s crazy performance attracted a cloud of spectators at any stadium. In particular, the Gocheok Kiwoom-KIA match between August 13 and 15, when Kim Do-young’s 30 home runs and 30 steals took place, successfully sold out all games during the week for the first time since the opening of Gocheok Sky Dome in 2016. It is no exaggeration to call it the “Kim Do-young effect” because it has a positive effect on the success of not only KIA but also other stadiums.
Kim Do-young also set another record in the match against Gwangju SSG on the 28th, when the KIA team succeeded in surpassing 1 million spectators in at least one game. Kim Do-young, who started as the third batter and third baseman on the day, hit a two-run shot to left to Song Young-jin at the bottom of the first inning with one out and a runner on the first base, marking his 33rd home run of the season. This is the most home run in the KBO League under the age of 21, and Kim Do-young, who is 20 years old, 10 months and 26 days old, surpassed the previous record of 21 years and one month under the current Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop.
He also broke the Tigers’ record for most runs scored in a single season. Kim got on base with a pitch ball in the bottom of the sixth inning, reached the third base on an opponent’s wild pitch following a steal of the second base, and then homered when Choi Hyung-woo hit a timely hit to the right. With his 36th stolen base and 119th run of the season, the previous record was 118 runs scored by Roger Bernadina in 2017.
The KBO league is also booming at all times due to the popular club KIA’s box office hit. On this day, a total of 69,559 spectators entered five games, recording a cumulative total of 9,904 spectators in 610 games. The 2024 KBO League, which already exceeded the previous season’s highest attendance of 8.4 million in 2017, on August 18, is also challenging the “age of 10 million spectators.” Arithmetically, the final number of spectators (720 games) for the season reaches 10.62 million,4018.