Gocheok Sky Dome records over 3.3 million visitors in 3 years

Baseball fans cheer at a baseball game at the Gocheok Sky Dome in southwestern Seoul. / Courtesy of Seoul Facilities Corp.

By Lee Suh-yoon

Gocheok Sky Dome, the country's first enclosed baseball stadium, celebrated its third anniversary this month with an impressive visitor record.

Since its opening in 2015, the domed ball park has hosted over 3.32 million baseball fans and concert goers.

The stadium, located in Guro-gu, southwestern Seoul, is the home ground of the NEXEN Heroes― one of the capital's three professional baseball teams along with the Doosan Bears and LG Twins.

It has hosted 279 professional baseball games in the last three years. The stadium was packed in late October after the NEXEN Heroes entered the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League playoffs. Over 70,000 people visited between Oct. 16 and 31 alone.

With extreme weather conditions in Seoul becoming more prevalent, Gocheok Sky Dome has become an increasingly popular venue for baseball games as its enclosed setting allows visitors to enjoy the game even during pouring rain or scorching heat waves.

Measuring about 70 meters from the ground to the top of the dome, the venue seats 16,813 people. When the facility opened on Nov. 4, 2015, it hosted a friendly match between the national baseball teams of Korea and Cuba. Korea won 6 to 0.

The stadium is also used, on occasion, as a concert hall that can hold up to 25,000 people by placing seats on the ground. Well-known foreign artists like Katy Perry and Sam Smith performed at Gocheok this year. In 2016 and 2017, world-famous Korean boy band BTS hosted their fan meeting and concert at the stadium. WannaOne and EXO have also had sold-out concerts at this dome. A total of 64 big-scale music and cultural events have been held here.

The stadium underwent some renovation to improve visitors' experience. The 30-chair rows were broken up into two 15-chair rows by creating another aisle through the middle, so visitors can reach their seats more easily. Though the move eliminated around 1,000 seats, it led to a drop in visitor complaints.

Critics say, however, that it does not provide sufficient parking space for full-house events. The stadium's parking lot can only accommodate 492 vehicles. Visitors are given priority passes for nearby parking lots but they get no fee discount for watching the game if they park at these privately run spaces.

“We have put in a lot of effort to make Gocheok Sky Dome an appealing stadium for citizens,” Lee Ji-yun, the chief director of Seoul Facilities Corp., said in a press statement last week. “And we will continue to try our best to make it an iconic sports facility that people want to visit in Seoul.”