Baseball’s digital divide: Packed stadiums, excluded fans

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Baseball’s digital divide: Packed stadiums, excluded fans

Published: 18 Apr. 2025, 00:04

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Bae Young-eun

The author is a staff reporter at the sports desk of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Korea’s professional baseball is riding a wave of unprecedented popularity. Even on weekday evenings, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul is filled to capacity with 23,650 spectators. But beyond the cheers and bright stadium lights, another fierce competition unfolds off the field — one fought not with bats and balls, but with smartphones and internet connections.

The latest buzzword among fans is “picketing" — a portmanteau of “ticketing” and the Korean word for blood — used to describe the brutal online scramble for tickets. Almost all tickets for KBO League games are sold online, with reservation portals opening one week in advance. But these days, fans must be willing to spend more to secure decent seats.

A sellout crowd watches a game between the LG Twins and Hanwha Eagles at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on March 27. [YONHAP]

Every KBO team now offers paid memberships that allow early access to ticket reservations — a new tier on top of traditional season passes. While season tickets reserve a specific seat for the entire season, these memberships offer the right to book seats earlier than the general public. Prime spots, such as those near the cheerleading section or premium infield tables, are usually snapped up during this early booking window. And even these memberships are limited. For popular teams, they sell out in under a minute — turning the early reservation itself into a separate competition.

In earlier days, fans would line up at box offices to buy tickets. Now, they log on at home to fight their way through the online battlefield, then queue again — not for tickets, but to buy team merchandise at the stadium. In the midst of this digital shift, a particular group of fans is being left behind.

Older fans and those unfamiliar with smartphones or online platforms — the so-called “digitally marginalized” — find it nearly impossible to secure good seats. While a small number of tickets are sold at stadium box offices, these are often for obstructed-view seats or restricted areas that, under consumer protection laws, cannot be sold online. Even then, the supply is limited and they sell out quickly.

Some younger fans have stepped in to help. Members of online communities sometimes buy extra tickets and offer them at face value to elderly fans who are turned away at the stadium gate. Their intention is not profit. It’s an informal system of goodwill, with messages like, “I’ll be near the ticket booth before the game — happy to transfer my ticket at cost.”

Recognizing the problem, some clubs have begun implementing solutions. Lotte Giants, one of Korea’s founding baseball teams with a large base of older supporters, reserved 1 percent of its seats — around 220 — for on-site purchase by fans aged 65 or older. This initiative, launched last year, proved so popular that the club has continued it into the current season.

The KT Wiz has partnered with Gyeonggi to provide 100 “opportunity tickets” per game for in-person purchase. Fans aged 70 or older, as well as people with disabilities, can buy these tickets — including one companion pass — for just 1,000 won (70 cents).

This year, the KIA Tigers also joined the effort. The club now sells a portion of infield and outfield tickets exclusively at the stadium box office. But unlike other teams, the Tigers chose not to limit the program by age, noting that digital exclusion can affect younger people as well. While the inclusive approach was well-intended, it led to unintended consequences. Scalpers, hearing of the program, began to show up in large numbers.

Fans watch a game between the LG Twins and Lotte Giants at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on March 22. [YONHAP]

“We didn’t expect such a reaction,” said a Tigers spokesperson. “Scalpers began buying up the tickets, so now we don’t announce the number of available on-site tickets in advance and adjust the volume for each game.”

What was meant as a gesture of inclusion has, in some cases, become a new target for exploitation. As the league’s popularity soars and ticket demand intensifies, the growing reliance on digital platforms risks further sidelining longtime fans. Clubs are experimenting with ways to strike a balance between technological convenience and equitable access, but finding that balance remains a work in progress.

Baseball is a sport rich with tradition and community spirit. In Korea, it has long been a shared experience that crosses generations. But as access increasingly depends on mobile apps and millisecond timing, ensuring everyone can take part in that experience — not just the digitally fluent — is becoming a challenge that the league, and its fans, must confront.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.