The V-League’s men’s division is experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
According to the Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO), the total attendance for the 2023-2024 season was 251,498. This is a 17.4% (37,320) increase from the previous season. Women’s attendance dropped from 347,267 to 350,516, but was more than offset by the men’s, bringing the combined total from 561,445 to 586,514. “This season, the men’s attendance has been particularly strong,” KOVO said, 스포츠토토사이트 “and has continued to grow with each round of the regular season.”
Attendance is returning to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. The men’s division averaged 1959 fans (191 games – 219,460 total) in the 2019-2020 season, which ended prematurely due to the pandemic, compared to 1877 fans (251 games) this season. The increase is also evident when compared to last season (1610), when the same number of games were played. This is especially encouraging considering the 2020-2021 season (216 games – average attendance of 92) and the 2021-2022 season (237 games – 698), both of which ended prematurely or had limited attendance due to the impact of COVID-19.
Of course, there’s still a long way to go. According to KOVO‘s ranking of the most-watched single games for men and women this season, the top five spots were dominated by women’s games. The third game of the women’s championship match between Heungkuk Life and Hyundai E&C on January 1, which decided the season’s crown, received the highest viewership among both men and women with 2.71%. The third round of the playoffs (PO) between Heungkuk Life and Jung Kwan-jang, which took place last month 26, was fifth with 2.03%. The highest viewership of 1.17% for the second round of the men’s PO between OK Financial Group and Woori Card on March 25 is right behind.
Although the men’s and women’s popularity is still skewed toward one side or the other, the men’s team is determined to keep up with the women’s team. “It’s true that the men’s game is lagging behind the women’s game in terms of popularity, but our men’s volleyball players will do their best so that fans who watch volleyball will think, ‘Oh, volleyball is so much fun,'” Shin Young-seok (38, KEPCO), a living legend of Korean volleyball, said at the V-League All-Star Game in January.
Outstanding feature