Korean professional baseball games will be streamed live for free for fans overseas starting Thursday, the league office announced.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the global streaming platform SOOP will carry live games, starting with a slate of five games Thursday. Fans living outside South Korea will be able to watch games on SOOP’s website or mobile app for free.
SOOP owns the international rights to KBO games through 2026. According to the KBO, SOOP will also stream postseason games in October, and will soon start offering highlights and full games on demand.
South Korean cable station SPOTV has been carrying KBO games in some Southeast Asian markets since 2021, though the service has been limited to 커뮤니티 one game per week. International fans first got their taste of KBO baseball in 2020, when the U.S. cable giant ESPN broadcast games with the start of the Major League Baseball season on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The KBO said it will seek to expand its international streaming services across different platforms.
The league is enjoying a boom at home this season, with teams having already sold out a record 98 games through the weekend. The previous record was 68 sellouts from the 2015 season