Highest paid baseball players South Korea 2023
Professional baseball in South Korea
Naturally, not all professional baseball players are as well paid as Dae-ho Lee or the other top players who receive more than a billion won per annum. Lee’s team, the Lotte Giants, paid their 63 players an average of 164 million won in 2020, with only the NC Dinos reporting a higher annual average salary of around 166 million won. The ticket revenue of KBO matches in 2018 was approximately 92 billion won from the more than eight million people who came to spectate. In all there were over 730 matches every year for the past five years. About half of all spectators came with friends, with another third accompanied by their families. Youths in their twenties made up the largest share of all spectators. As larger and more modern sports complexes are built in South Korea, the attendance numbers for baseball matches in the country looks set to continue to increase.
The KBO League
Among the various professional sports in Korea, including football (soccer), basketball, and e-sports, baseball was the most popular according to respondents in a 2017 survey. The KBO League, the most popular sports league in South Korea, offers the highest level of baseball in the country and earning a place in a team in this league is considered very prestigious. The Kia Tigers are the most successful team overall, winning the most championships in the leagues’ almost 40-year history. During the 2019 season, the Doosan Bears and SK Wyverns had the highest win rates in the league, followed closely by the Kiwoom Heroes.