The 2023 Gumi & Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament, held for 16 days from July 29 to August 13, ended with GS Caltex winning the women’s title and OK Financial Group winning the men’s title.
The tournament, which was filled with fierce matches and cheers from spectators who visited the Gumi Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in the sweltering heat, is summarized below with the main issues, viewership, and attendance figures.안전놀이터
- New stars in the men’s game
The men’s division of the tournament was dominated by young players.
For the first time in the history of the Cup, players in their second year of professional competition swept all the individual awards. Shin Shin-jin, who was selected by OK Financial Group in the first round of last year’s rookie draft, led his team to victory, scoring a game-high 34 points in the final, and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). This is only the second time in history that a second-year player has won MVP honors after Hyundai Capital’s Song Jun-ho won the title in 2013.
Rookie Park Sung-jin (4th round pick) of the runner-up Samsung Fire won the MIP (Most Improved Player) award after scoring 30 points in the final against OK Financial Group, while OK Financial Group’s Lee Jin-sung, the 7th pick in the 2nd round of the last draft, won the Rising Star award after averaging 8.6 points per game in the tournament, including some timely blocked shots.
- Women’s Viewership
With a total of 15 matches, the average viewership rate for the women’s tournament was 0.93%, down from the 0.99% achieved at the Suncheon 2022 Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament.
The most-watched game in the women’s division was the final match between GS Caltex and IBK on August 5. The game, broadcast by terrestrial broadcaster KBS 2TV, had a peak viewership of 1.49%. This was followed by the August 2 match between Pepper Savings Bank and KGC Ginseng Corporation with a viewership of 1.15%, and the August 4 semifinal match between Hyundai E&C and GS Caltex with a viewership of 1.14%.
- Attendance in the Women’s Division
The total number of spectators for the 16-day tournament was 36,716 for both men and women. In the women’s competition, 24,329 spectators visited the stadium for 15 games, with an average daily attendance of 3,041.
On July 30, the match between Heungkuk Life Insurance and IBK Bank recorded the highest number of spectators in the tournament with 3,200 spectators, while the second highest number of spectators, 2,679, visited the stadium for the women’s final match between GS Caltex and IBK Bank on August 5.
- Men’s viewership
Meanwhile, the men’s tournament, which started on August 6, the day after the women’s final, and lasted from August 13 to 15, had a similar average viewership rate of 0.88%, up from 0.89% in the previous tournament.
The highest-rated men’s game was the semifinal between Panasonic and OK Financial Group on Aug. 12, which garnered 1.25 percent, the second-highest rating for a men’s game in Cup history. The opening match between Korean Air and Woori Card on August 6 followed with 1.10%, and the final match between Samsung Fire and OK Financial Group on August 13 came in third with 1.07%.
- Attendance in the Men’s Division
The men’s division mobilized a total of 12,387 spectators and an average of 1,548 spectators per day over the 15 games. Both the total number of spectators and the average number of spectators per day increased by about 4% from last year.
The final game, Samsung Fire vs. OK Financial Group on August 13, had the highest attendance with 2,285 fans, followed by the opening game, Korean Air vs. Woori Card on August 6, with 1,826 fans each.
With more than 36,000 spectators, the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament was a great success. The federation plans to continue its efforts in preparing for the league so that the interest and enthusiasm generated by the Cup can be carried over to the upcoming regular season.