Baseball tops local professional sports in economic impact

SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- Baseball topped four local major professional sports in its economic impact last year, a study showed Monday.
According to a study by the Sport Industry-Marketing Center at Hanyang University in Seoul, the four major sports leagues -- baseball, football, volleyball and basketball -- combined for 2.24 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) in economic effect.



Of that, baseball accounted for 1.18 trillion won, or 52.9 percent of all four leagues.
The study looked at eight Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs, 15 K-League football teams, 10 Korean Basketball League (KBL) teams and seven men's V-League volleyball franchises.
Baseball has enjoyed unprecedented popularity in the past several seasons, buoyed by South Korea's gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Asian Games, and the runner-up finish at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The KBO has set single-season attendance records in each of the past two seasons and is poised to break the 2010 mark this year.
All eight KBO teams ranked inside the top 10 among individual sports teams with the highest economic impact. Two others inside the top 10 were football clubs.
The K-League has seen its attendance fall over the past three years, and it was rattled by its first major match-fixing scandal this year. The V-League had its best attendance this year, but its games are held in much smaller arenas. The KBL's gate figures have been up and down in recent seasons.
jeeho@yna.co.kr