Even in July, when the heat wave began, fans remained highly enthusiastic about watching KBO League games in person. As of Aug. 17, food and beverage sales at Suwon kt wiz Park, the home stadium of KT Wiz, which currently leads the KBO League standings, surged sharply.
According to BC Card, food and beverage sales at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul and at Suwon kt wiz Park, the home of KT Wiz, rose sharply year on year during July.
At Jamsil Baseball Stadium, combined food, beverage and convenience store sales in July rose 8.8% in 2025 from the 2024 baseline of 100, and were up 30.6% in 2026 compared with 2024. In particular, foods prepared on site, such as pizza, chicken, hot dogs and tteokbokki, were especially popular. Sales at businesses selling those items inside the stadium rose 12.2% in 2025 and 35.8% in 2026. Including food trucks around the stadium, the increase is expected to be even larger.
Food and beverage sales inside Suwon kt wiz Park are also rising quickly.
According to the KT Wiz baseball team, food and beverage sales in July 2025 jumped 101% from a year earlier, while 2026 sales rose 180% from two years earlier. The team’s strong performance has lifted fan expectations, and more supporters are visiting home games in person, which has also boosted spending on food and drinks inside the stadium. In particular, as more families attend games together, items that children can enjoy with their parents accounted for the largest share of sales. In fact, 47.1% of visitors to Suwon kt wiz Park come as families. As attendance has grown, the number of food and beverage outlets at Suwon kt wiz Park doubled from 21 in 2024 to 42 in 2026.
Meanwhile, the popularity of baseball across generations was also reflected in the issuance of baseball fan cards. Among customers holding the Kia Champions Credit Card issued by Kwangju Bank, households with children in elementary, middle or high school accounted for 33% of all cardholders. Single-person households followed at 19.2%, and households with adult children at 18.5%. For the Kia Champions Check Card, launched in March, single-person households made up the largest share at 31.4%, followed by households with children in elementary, middle or high school at 26.5%. Fans in their 80s and older also accounted for 2%. In addition, while spending at F&B outlets and the team store inside KIA Champions Field was high, sales in lodging, travel and fuel also stood out. The analysis suggests that these payment records also capture cases of away-game cheering trips or visits combined with travel.
Hee-jung Kim, head of communications at BC Card, said, "This shows that baseball has gone beyond being simply a sport to watch and has become part of leisure and consumer culture." She added, "We will continue to use data analysis to identify diverse consumption trends and focus on synergy activities that can expand the enjoyment of our payment customers."
Sohyoung Kim, Sportschosun, compact@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
