“Lotte, Lotte, Lotte, Lotte, the victorious Lotte.”
The Sajik Stadium in Busan, where the Lotte Giants and NC Dinos played a three-game midweek series on Nov. 23-25, was packed even though it was a weekday evening. The home team Lotte’s chants, sung by a large number of spectators, rang out louder than ever.
For the game on the 23rd, 13,803 tickets were reserved about an hour before kickoff, and 15,047 fans finally showed up. This was the largest crowd for a Tuesday game this season.
Typically, Tuesday games in baseball struggle at the box office. When it comes to midweek three-game series, Thursday games tend to be more popular than Tuesday-Wednesday games. Out of the 32 games played on Tuesdays this year, only six exceeded 10,000 spectators. Lotte has attracted more than 15,000 fans.
The excitement of “Sajik Karaoke” hasn’t cooled down. On the 24th, 14,244 fans came to Sajik Stadium, and on the 25th, 15,221 fans came to Sajik Stadium.
Although the series was a Nakdong River derby against local rival NC, the two teams’ matchup is not a surefire box office draw. The last time NC and Sajik played a three-game series, on August 5-7, 2022, attendance was 21,087.
The reason why Sajik Stadium is enjoying a box office breeze this year is because Lotte is performing well. At the beginning of the season, Lotte went on a nine-game winning streak and took sole possession of first place, erasing the image of “Bomde” and transforming into “Topde” (leading Lotte). In May, their performance stalled, but this year they are a different story with a 10-7 record. They are in a three-way tie for second place with the LG Twins and SSG Landers.
The number of sellouts has also increased. Lotte’s first sellout came on April 30 against the Kiwoom Heroes, their first solo win of the season, and then again on April 20-21 against SSG for the top spot, when all 22,990 tickets were sold.
Looking at monthly attendance records, Lotte’s attendance growth is even more noticeable. In April’s 13 games, they had 132,634 fans, an average of just over 10,000. In the nine May games leading up to the NC on the 25th, the average attendance was 145,931, an increase of nearly 6,000 fans. Lotte ranked first among the 10 teams in terms of average home attendance in May.메이저놀이터
Due to the exciting box office, Lotte’s average attendance for the season increased to 12,662. This is a 44.3% increase from last year’s average attendance of 8,773.
A Lotte team official said, “As Lotte has been performing well, winning nine consecutive games and taking sole possession of first place at one point, more and more passionate Lotte fans are visiting the ballpark. In particular, the number of spectators watching in groups has increased significantly.”