The postseason sensation of the men’s professional basketball team Busan KCC is predicting an all-time box office hit. KCC, which is participating in the 2023-2024 season championship game (best of seven games), will play the 3rd and 4th games at home at Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan on May 1st and 3rd. Ahead of this, it was found that the success of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) is certain to be a hit for the first time in more than a decade. According to the KCC club on the 28th, the tickets for the first and second floors (7,000 seats) of the Sajik Gymnasium have already been sold out for the home game of the third round of the championship. The club explained that the 3rd round of reservations began on the 26th, but they were all sold out on the morning of the 27th, a day later.
This phenomenon is a phenomenon even compared to the opening game against Samsung in Seoul (Oct. 23, 2023), which drew the largest number of spectators this season. KCC’s 8,780 opening match in Busan was the highest number of spectators in 17 years since the opening game of Jamsil in the 2006-2007 season (11,848). At that time, the cumulative total of 6,500 tickets were sold from a week before the opening game. However, the number of tickets sold in the third round of the championship just one day later exceeded 7,000 in just one day.
As a result, KCC started booking tickets for the third-floor stands, which had not been open before the first round match against KT started at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The speed of booking for the third-floor stands with 2,700 seats is also unprecedented. After the first round match against KT ended, an interim tally showed that 700 tickets were already sold.
“Based on the current trend, the remaining seats on the third floor will likely be sold out after 28 days. The final number of spectators for the third round is expected to exceed 10,000,” a KCC official said. The official capacity of Sajik Indoor Stadium is 12,995. However, KCC has been passive in setting the capacity to 10,000 seats.
As women’s professional basketball team Busan BNK used the stadium as its home ground, the seats were partially renovated and reduced, and the so-called “private 席” was excluded. “Sajik Gymnasium has many private seats with poor viewing conditions due to their location. We have decided not to sell seats where people are likely to be criticized for selling tickets,” a team source said. If fans who have not been able to book in advance are flooded with requests from on-site visitors, they will have no choice but to sell a part of the third floor, which is a non-reserved seat, unlike the first and second floors, which are designated seats. If this happens, KCC expects to see 10,000 to 11,000 spectators.
If Sajik Indoor Stadium records more than 10,000 spectators this time, it will be the first time in 12 years that it has set a record of 10,000 spectators. Of the 10 professional basketball teams’ home stadiums in Korea, only two are Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul (official capacity of 11,044 seats) and Sajik Indoor Stadium. The most recent case that the number of spectators in a single game exceeded 10,000 in the 2011-2012 regular league-playoff was 12,815 (Sajik Gymnasium) during the fourth round of the semifinal playoff (March 24, 2012) between KT and Anyang in the 2011-2012 season. At that time, Sajik Indoor Stadium was a “attraction” of 10,000 spectators, with 11,042 people even when the KT-Changwon LG match in the regular league (March 4, 2012).
Since then, the 10,000 spectators have been forgotten in memory as teams using Jamsil and Sajik Indoor Stadium as their home ground failed to produce performances that could attract box office success. Sajik Indoor Stadium, which produced the last 10,000 spectators 12 years ago, is showing signs of explosion again.
The reason why Busan fans are so excited is obvious. After bringing the first-ever fifth-ranked team to the championship, KCC showed off its unwavering “bully power” by winning the first round by 17 points (90-73) in addition to its sweeping victory. The team is maximizing the impact by adding the characteristics of KCC’s players, which are full of popular players. A KCC official said, “May 1 is an office worker’s holiday (labor day) and the Lotte Giants home game will be held at the Sajik district office next door. Sajik income will likely be a big hit for the first time in a while.”
BY: 카지노사이트