South Korean Baseball Struggles With Loss of Gate Revenue

South Korean baseball was one of the first sporting leagues to resume after the COVID-19 enforced lockdown but without expected gate revenue some clubs are now facing financial challenges.

Following the resumption of the KBO league on May 5, the plan was for fans to gradually be permitted back in to games in the coming months. However a recent spike in new COVID-19 cases in Seoul and surrounding regions means allowing supporters back this month is now untenable.

The resurgence of the virus has forced the KBO and its clubs to scrap plans to sell tickets. According to a Yonhap report teams may soon have to take extreme measures to address the financial shortfall if fans are not allowed in by July.

Players have not been asked to take salary reductions yet but without the expected gate revenue that will likely change. 

Some of the biggest South Korean chaebols such as Samsung, SK, Lotte and LG all own KBO clubs and have provided grants for their teams, but the financial backing is likely to be scaled back this year as the pandemic wrecks havoc on the economy.

“We’ve been paying our players and employees in full. But if we keep playing without fans in July, a lot of teams will run into extremely serious trouble.” “They may have to take out a loan to pay salaries,” a club official told Yonhap.

“Last year, we made about US$147,925 from gates per home game on average, and obviously we’ve made zero this year,” the official added. Typically, gate receipts contributed to a third of his team’s revenue in a season. This is certainly a very major setback to the league despite a hefty media rights deal worth US$64m per year from 2020-23 period.