๐ญ The Last Children's Day at Jamsil — Woody Magazine, May 5, 2026
The Last Children's Day at Jamsil
Three decades of Children's Day rivalry at Korea's most storied ballpark — and today may be its final chapter.
At 2 p.m. today, the LG Twins host the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium for their annual Children's Day matchup. Same teams, same date, same ballpark as every year. Except for one detail — under current plans, this is the last time it ever happens here.
Why Jamsil Is Going Away
In July 2024, the Seoul Metropolitan Government finalized a plan to demolish Jamsil Baseball Stadium and replace it with a fully enclosed dome — the centerpiece of a sports-and-MICE redevelopment in the city's southeast. Construction will run from 2027 through 2031. During those five seasons, LG and Doosan — who have shared Jamsil as a home ground since the 1980s — will play out of a converted Jamsil Olympic Stadium next door. The new dome, budgeted at roughly 500 billion won (about $370 million) with a closed-roof design and over 35,000 seats, is targeted for 2032.
Some Korean sports outlets have flagged that the schedule may slip — Jamsil's vendor contracts reportedly run through 2027, and the dome's implementation agreement has already been delayed. So "this is the last one ever" deserves an asterisk. But going by today's official calendar, this afternoon is the final Doosan-LG Children's Day game at the existing Jamsil ballpark.
The Weight of Thirty Years
To understand why this matters, a little context. May 5 is Eorininal — Children's Day — a national holiday in South Korea since 1975, traditionally a day when families take their kids out for something special. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) launched in 1982 with the slogan "dreams and hope for children," and from the start, Children's Day games were positioned as the league's signature family event.
The Jamsil rivalry between LG and Doosan — two clubs that share the same stadium, an arrangement nearly unique in professional baseball — became the centerpiece of that tradition starting in 1996. With the exceptions of 1997 and 2002, the two teams have squared off in a Children's Day series at Jamsil every year since. And from 1998 onward, except during the pandemic-emptied 2020 and 2021 seasons, every single one of those games has sold out.
What that number really represents is generational. A child who came to Jamsil with a parent in the late 1990s is now likely bringing a child of their own. The KBO has often described this as the league's "fan cycle," and Children's Day at Jamsil is where that cycle most visibly renews itself. It is, more than the All-Star Game or the Korean Series, the day Korean baseball remembers what it was built for.
After Today
Starting in 2027, both clubs will play their Children's Day games at the renovated Jamsil Olympic Stadium — a former track-and-field venue retrofitted into a 34,000-seat ballpark. Under the KBO's biennial rotation, even-numbered years bring the Children's Day matchup back to LG's home (in Jamsil); odd years send it elsewhere. Which means the rivalry as it has been performed at the original Jamsil Stadium will not return, in its current form, until at least 2032. Six years from today.
All five Korean ballparks hosting Children's Day games are expected to sell out this afternoon. The Korea Meteorological Administration forecasts clear skies nationwide. The KBO is on pace to set a record for the fewest games needed to reach three million in cumulative attendance, and a 13-million-fan season is in sight. Amid all of that, Jamsil is quietly writing the last line of its longest-running story.
- 「Source ↗」MoneyToday — KBO's 44 Years of Children's Day Magic (May 5, 2026)
- 「Source ↗」Sports Khan — Children's Day Matchups Across Five Stadiums (May 4, 2026)
- 「Source ↗」Kyunghyang Shinmun — LG and Doosan to Play at Jamsil Olympic Stadium from 2027 (Jul. 9, 2024)
- 「Source ↗」SBS News — Seoul Announces Jamsil Dome Construction Plan (Sep. 18, 2023)
Comments
Post a Comment