A report published by JETRO Seoul Office on August 4, 2025, analyzing the current status of South Korea's sports industry and business opportunities for Japanese companies.
South Korea's sports industry recorded the highest-ever revenue of 81 trillion won (approximately 8.1 trillion yen) in 2023, showing steady growth of 3.7% year-on-year. The breakdown includes sports facilities industry at 21.756 trillion won (2.0% increase), sports goods industry at 34.475 trillion won (4.7% increase), and sports services industry at 24.801 trillion won (3.9% increase), with all sectors recovering to pre-COVID 2019 levels.
Particularly notable is the surge in professional baseball popularity, with KBO attendance in 2024 reaching 10.887 million people, a 34.4% increase from the previous year, surpassing 10 million for the first time. This is attributed to the advancement of comprehensive entertainment integration, including AI and digital technology-enhanced performances, K-POP collaborations, and fandom formation through social media.
The South Korean government has set a target to expand the sports industry market size to 105 trillion won by 2028 under the "4th Sports Industry Promotion Mid-to-Long-term Plan," aiming to increase businesses with revenue over 10 billion won to 1,000 companies and expand the workforce to 600,000 people.
Business opportunities for Japanese companies include collaboration in sports tech with wearable devices, AI and XR technologies, sports tourism with viewing package tours and experience tours, and sports content with Japan-Korea co-productions and OTT platform distribution.
The article concludes that South Korea's sports industry has built a new model fusing technology and entertainment, and Japanese companies can contribute to the development of both countries' sports industries through collaboration leveraging their technological capabilities and IP assets.