Shock in KBO: Free LG Twins Scrimmage Tickets Resold Up to 40 Times Their Price

KBO League Ticket Scalping Crisis

The 2025 KBO League is experiencing unprecedented popularity with over 12 million spectators in the regular season and packed stadiums through the postseason, including record-breaking attendance at playoff games. Despite this success, ticket scalping has become a severe issue. Scalpers have been leveraging macro programs and other means to bulk purchase high-demand game tickets, reselling them at multiple times the face value. Even with strengthened crackdowns involving police cooperation and stricter online monitoring, illegal resales remain rampant. This issue is disheartening for genuine fans who have to pay exorbitantly inflated prices for direct attendance, especially for popular teams and crucial postseason matchups.

LG Twins' Free Scrimmage Ticket Scandal

Shockingly, scalping has infiltrated beyond regular and postseason matches to LG Twins' internal scrimmage games, which were released to fans entirely for free (only a small reservation fee). LG’s scrimmage events held at Jamsil Stadium, meant to build excitement with cheering squads and entertainment, have become targets of scalpers who resell the free tickets for between 10,000 and up to 40,000 won—far above the usual ticket prices for the stadium seats. This transformation of free access into inflated resale prices sparked intense fan backlash and concern, raising questions about how much scalper greed will affect the forthcoming Korean Series itself.

Cultural Context and Fan Community Backlash

KBO fans and communities on platforms like Naver and Reddit express deep frustration and disbelief over the persistence of illegal ticket resales despite ongoing government and KBO initiatives. Many highlight that the scarcity created by scalpers disrupts the spirit of support and communal joy at baseball games. Cultural understanding of the profound fandom for Korean baseball—especially for high-profile teams like LG Twins—is vital here: fans often compete fiercely for tickets given the sport's skyrocketing popularity and emotional investment. Comments across multiple fan forums emphasize a need for stronger verification measures, such as matching ticket buyers’ IDs to entry holders, similar to some MLB and concert protocols.

Future Outlook and Efforts Against Scalping

The KBO League has publicly committed to further tighten measures against scalping through collaboration with clubs, ticket vendors, and the police, including the deployment of CAPTCHA systems, ID matching at entry gates for postseason tickets, and monitoring suspicious bulk purchases. Recent arrests of scalping rings using macros indicate law enforcement is making some headway. However, the fact that scalpers are active even for free scrimmage events signals a deeper problem entrenched in the ticket distribution system and fan demand-supply imbalance. Fans are hoping these efforts will finally make attending games more accessible and authentic and preserve the vibrant culture of Korean baseball fandom as the Korea Series approaches.