The Korean baseball league has started its season, becoming the first professional sport league to resume play during the global corona-virus pandemic. ESPN signed a deal to broadcast 6 KBO games per week, with most of the games on ESPN2. Most of the games are shown at night due to the time shift, making the viewing experience difficult for US sport fans. The South Korean soccer league is set to begin later this week on Friday with no fans in the stadiums.

Players, coaches and staff at the stadiums wear masks throughout the game, with regular temperature checks a new part of the game-day experience. With no fans allowed in attendance until officials believe it is safe to do so, the South Korean teams became creative in terms of trying to replicate some sort of normalcy or fill in the atmosphere lost by having no fans. Seoul-based LG Twins’s outfield seats were decked with huge banners of the Twins’ cheering slogans. The SK Wyverns covered their outfield seats with horizontal banners which showed faces of fans, while the Samsung Lions used their huge digital scoreboard to play video messages from players, celebrities, and fans thanking doctors and essential workers for fighting the pandemic.