Seoul: The South Korean baseball league announced Thursday it has set a new first-half attendance record. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) wrapped up the first half of the 2026 season Thursday night having drawn 7,633,775 fans through 424 games -- a record total prior to the league's annual All-Star break.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the previous record was 7,580,228 fans in 440 games at the break in 2025. The KBO went on to set a single-season attendance mark with over 12.3 million fans last year and is on pace to top that mark this year. The league has cleared every million milestone in record pace so far this season.

The KBO said its 10 teams are averaging 18,004 fans per game, up 7 percent from the same point a season ago. Two of the four games played Thursday were sold out. The Lotte Giants hosted the Kia Tigers in front of 23,200 fans at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, some 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, while the Samsung Lions faced the LG Twins at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, about 230 kilometers southeast of the capital, with 24,000 fans on hand.

The league has seen 231 sellouts, putting the record total of 331 set last year in danger. The KBO will be on an All-Star break from Friday to next Wednesday.