Twenty-something female away team fans lead Korean baseball craze

South Korea’s professional baseball league games enjoyed record-high attendance of more than 10 million this year thanks to the growing number of female away team fans in their 20s, credit card data showed on Thursday.

The number of away team fans, supporters of the teams opposing the home team, jumped 43.5% this season from a year earlier, according to South Korean credit card issuer BC Card Co.’s analysis of user spending in five cities with baseball parks outside of the Seoul metropolitan area. The number of home team fans grew 18.3% during the period.

Among away fans, those in their 20s jumped 76.2%, more than double the 38% of supporters in their 30s. Twenty-something female supporters of visiting teams soared 96.4%, while men in the age group rose 60.4%.

The Kia Tigers enjoyed an 85.1% increase in the number of away team fans at its baseball field as the team, wholly owned by the country’s No. 2 automaker Kia Corp., took first place in the regular season this year.

The Samsung Lions, the No. 2 club this season, saw 51.2% growth in away fans.

BOOSTING NEARBY BUSINESSES

Such growth in visiting fans boosted businesses such as shops and restaurants around baseball parks in the cities.

Their sales from away fans surged 57.1%, while revenue from home team supporters rose 19.8%.

Gwangju, home to the Tigers, reported a 113.7% jump followed by Daegu, home to the Lions, with a 52.2% increase.

Sales from away team fans in their 20s soared 109.3% with revenue from women skyrocketing 124.7% and revenue from men up 97.3%.

Write to Mi-Hyun Jo at mwise@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.