Sunny for soccer, cloudy for baseball.
The contrast between professional soccer and professional baseball clubs based in Daejeon is at odds. The K-League Daejeon Hana Citizen is on a winning streak, but the KBO League Hanwha Eagles are at the bottom this year as well. The performance of professional soccer and professional baseball teams has a great influence on the mobilization of spectators. The number of spectators for Daejeon Hana Citizen’s home games is on the rise, but there are many empty seats at the baseball field where the Hanwha Eagles play.
In the K League 1 Daejeon Hana Citizen’s match against Ulsan Hyundai at Daejeon World Cup Stadium on the 16th, 16,359 spectators entered and cheered enthusiastically. Daejeon, which has been promoted to the first division this year after staying in the K-League 2 (second division) for the past eight years, has been cruising since the beginning of the season, breaking the predictions of experts that it is the weakest team in the league. They are in 3rd place (14 points) with 4 wins (2 draws and 1 loss) in 7 matches, including a 1-0 defeat of defending champion Ulsan on the 16th. Daejeon also scored 16 goals, ranking first in average scoring (2.29 goals per game). He caught the attention of fans with his hot attacking soccer. Including the game against Ulsan, they are strengthening their image as ‘invincible at home’ by winning 23 (10 draws and 1 loss) in 34 recent home games.
As the performance improved, the green light was turned on for box office success. The average number of spectators for Daejeon home games this season reaches 14,850, including 18,590 people for the opening match against Gangwon FC. Compared to last year’s average crowd (2,271), which finished the season at the top of the second division, it increased by a whopping 6.5 times. It reminds me of the early 2000s, when cloud crowds flocked to every game and earned the nickname ‘Soccer Special City’.
On the other hand, Hanwha Eagles, a professional baseball team, is suffering from the cold eyes of home fans.먹튀검증 An average of 10,367 fans per game visited the baseball field for three home games this season. It is the smallest crowd among the 10 KBO league teams. Even compared to the league average (12,259), it is close to 1,000 fewer. Last year, the average number of spectators per game was 4,975, far below the league average (8,439).
Hanwha has only 4 wins (1 draw and 8 losses) in 13 matches this season and is in 9th place out of 10 teams. It has been at the bottom for five consecutive seasons since 2018, when it ranked third in the final rankings, until this year. Although he is a Hanwha fan called ‘Bodhisattva’, he expresses his disappointment at the poor performance every year.
