To resolve the severe seat shortage issue, the Hanwha Eagles and Daejeon City have signed an investment agreement to expand the Hanwha Life Ballpark—currently seating 17,000—back to its originally planned 20,000-seat capacity.

This decision is a measure to alleviate the ticketing wars and viewing inconveniences experienced by fans after most home games sold out during the previous season. The Hanwha Eagles will shoulder a portion of the project costs, while Daejeon City will support administrative procedures.

The expansion construction is scheduled to begin in October 2027 and be completed in March 2028. Adding 3,000 seats to the 1st base outfield is expected to further broaden fans' opportunities to watch games live.

The severe seat shortage at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark is expected to be resolved. Due to a seating capacity falling short of the professional baseball team Hanwha Eagles' massive box-office success, sellouts have occurred back-to-back since the opening year, making improvements to fan viewing conditions necessary.

According to the Hanwha Eagles and Daejeon City on the 6th, the seating capacity of Hanwha Life Ballpark, currently at 17,000, will be increased by 3,000 seats to reach 20,000. Both sides signed an investment agreement for the expansion at the ballpark's press center on this day.

Behind the expansion background lies the severe seating crisis that persisted throughout last season.

With the opening of the new stadium, spectators poured in, but available seats capped out at 17,000. Out of 73 regular-season home games in the 2025 season, an astounding 62 games sold out, recording a seat occupancy rate of $99.3%$. Practically speaking, there were no leftover seats for an entire season.

For fans, watching a home game was often harder because of securing a ticket rather than visiting the stadium itself.

Fierce booking competitions repeated for the limited seats at every game, making tickets even harder to secure during weekends or high-interest matchups. While the viewing environment greatly improved with the opening of the new stadium, this is why the disappointment of not having sufficient opportunities to watch games live continued.

In particular, Hanwha Life Ballpark was originally planned for a 20,000-seat capacity, but actually opened with 3,000 fewer seats. Coupled with Hanwha's ongoing box-office hit, voices grew louder arguing that a 17,000-seat scale could no longer accommodate spectator demand. Once this expansion is completed, it will secure the originally planned 20,000-seat scale.

The project cost is estimated at up to 13.0 billion KRW. The Hanwha Eagles will bear $25%$ of the total project cost, while Daejeon City will handle matters related to fee exemptions and stadium management and operation in accordance with relevant laws and agreements.

Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jung stated, "Up until now, Daejeon citizens and Hanwha fans suffered a lot of inconvenience due to how difficult it was to book tickets for the ballpark. It remained at the 17,000-seat level, falling short of the originally planned 20,000 seats, and so many fans visited the stadium last year that most games were fully packed."

He added, "We will proceed with the 3,000-seat expansion without a hitch so that we can prepare to host the opening game here in 2028."

Hanwha Eagles CEO Park Jong-tae stated, "We will expand the lacking seats so that more citizens and fans can visit the ballpark."

Daejeon City plans to finish related administrative procedures by September 2027, kick off construction in October of the same year, and complete it by March 2028. The expansion location is the 2nd floor above ground in the 1st base outfield.

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