The South Korean men’s basketball team finished seventh at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which ended earlier this month. The team failed to win an Asian Games medal for the first time in 17 years when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals, leaving Hangzhou in disgrace.
There were plenty of concerns heading into the new season, but the team has turned things around in just three weeks. 바카라사이트 Men’s professional basketball kicked off last weekend with a bang at the box office.
The 2023-2024 Chinese Basketball League, which kicked off on Nov. 21, drew 34,437 fans for six games over two days. With an average attendance of 5073, it was the highest opening week attendance in six years since the 2017-2018 season (5105).
Busan KCC was at the center of it all. On Sept. 22, 8780 people attended Busan Sajik Gymnasium, where KCC played its home opener against Seoul Samsung. This is the highest opening week attendance in 17 years since the Seoul Samsung vs. Busan KTF (now Suwon KT) game at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul on October 19, 2006 (11,848).
The fourth-best opening week attendance in the history of professional basketball can be attributed to the meeting of Busan and KCC. Sajik Gymnasium has the largest capacity of the 10 current home venues, and KCC is a popular team with a top star in Busan.
Busan had been without men’s basketball for two years when KT left for Suwon at the end of the 2020-2021 season. KCC, a popular team from Jeonju, has arrived in the basketball-hungry city and is off to a hot start.
The team’s popularity hasn’t waned, and they’ve recently added some of the league’s biggest stars to their roster. Heo Woong, who received the most All-Star votes in history, joined last season, and Lee Sang-min, who held the record before him, joined as a coach this season.
KCC has high expectations for this season. After topping the regular season in 2020-2021 but missing out on the title, KCC slipped to ninth place the following season, attracting stars like Heo and Lee Seung-hyun in free agency. This year, the team has added top forward Choi Jun-yong and is a favorite to win the title. KCC, which will be joined by Song Kyo-chang in November after completing his military service, has been dubbed a “super team.
Seoul SK (3,685), which led the league in attendance last season, also remained a force to be reckoned with. SK, which won the 2021-2022 season as the overall champion and made KBL history last season by winning the championship game, sold out its home opener against Suwon KT on Nov. 22 (5202).
If there are stars and good games, fans will go. In a season where two of the league’s recent sensations are strong favorites to win the title, the interest in the opener signaled that fans are ready for a showdown.
