If you’re into sport, heading to a Korean baseball game should be a must on your bucket list! Baseball is huge in Korea and the party atmosphere is next level, especially for a sporting event. We managed to go to a couple of games during our year in Korea. Two of the games were at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul and one game in Daegu.
We were quick to jump on the Doosan Bears train, they had won the league the year before and did again in 2016.
What makes Korean baseball so different is the cheering! Every player has a song about them which is sung by the crowd when they are batting. Each team has a cheerleader captain who starts the singing off and has cheerleaders and dances that continue during their team’s innings. We would definitely recommend checking it out in real life.
It is not uncommon to see kids dress up like the cheerleader captain and imitate their dance moves in the aisles of the stadium.
During breaks, there are also the standard crowd pleasers such as dance cam, kiss cam and a few different ones, including beer chugging competitions! The winners would win half a slab of beer to drink with their mates for the rest of the game.
The KBO has ten teams and the teams are all owned by large Korean companies. The teams are named after these companies instead of the city or area they are based in.
At the baseball in Daegu
Some quick tips about going to a game:
- Tickets can be super cheap! Outfield seats go for as little as 8,000KRW (~$9AUD), with the prices going up to sit in the stands with the cheer squads.
- Buying tickets online is tricky, especially if you’re a foreigner – either get a Korean mate to buy for you or go 1-2 hours before the game to buy some. Tickets on weekends generally sell out.
- You can bring in your own food and drinks (including beer!) and you can leave mid game and return with more. Most people pick up some chimek (fried chicken + beer) from the different vendors outside the stadium. There are also convenience stores in the stadium selling beer and snacks, amazingly it’s not much more than outside. The only rules seem to be no cans or glass and no bottles of beer over 1lt.
- The newer stadiums put the words to the songs up on the screens so you can try and join in!
Crowds lining up for free merchandise outside Jamsil stadium
The season goes from March to November, with games on most days of the week and are in the bigger cities around Korea. Games go for about 3 hours.
Find the up to date fixtures for the year here.
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