The Gocheok Sky Dome is hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres as they open the 2024 regular season with the Seoul Series as part of the MLB World Tour.
The Gocheok Sky Dome primarily serves as the home ballpark for the Korean Baseball Organization’s (KBO) Kiwoom Heroes, but it has hosted numerous other events as well, including concerts and music awards.
More recently, the 2023 League of Legends World Championship was also played in the Gocheok Sky Dome. For baseball games, the stadium has a max capacity of 16,744 fans, and that number increases to 25,000 for concerts.
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Located in Gocheok-dong, Seoul, the Gocheok Sky Dome first opened on Sept. 15, 2015, when it replaced the Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium.
The Sky Dome played host to the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, with South Korea, Taiwan, Israel and the Netherlands playing their games there.
Two years later, it also hosted the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 with South Korea, Cuba, Australia and Canada competing in matches.
And the following year, all first round games in the KBO playoffs were played at Gocheok Sky Dome due to the weather.
Construction began in 2009 and the stadium cost 240 billion won to build, which is roughly $180 million in the United States. Its main contractors were the Hyundai Development Company, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Sungjee Construction.
The architects of the stadium were the Ilgeon Architects and ATEC Architects.
Because it’s an indoor stadium, it uses an artificial turf rather than natural grass.
“It’s a little bit harder on your body,” James Outman told DodgerBlue.com of playing on turf. “This turf is actually pretty good. It feels fairly normal.”
The turf is brand new as it was updated earlier this month, along with new lights and a clubhouse update as part of Gocheok Sky Dome renovations to prepare for the Seoul Series.
Gocheok Sky Dome dimensions are 325 feet down the left field line, 400 feet to straightaway center and 325 feet to right field as well. The outfield fence stands 12 feet tall.
That’s similar to Dodger Stadium, but the corner outfield is five feet shorter, center field is five feet longer, and the outfield fence is 7.5 feet taller.
What time do Dodgers play Seoul Series games at Gocheok Sky Dome?
Opening Day of the 2024 season is Wednesday, March 20. First pitch for the Padres’ home game is 7:05 p.m. local time, which amounts to 3:05 a.m. start in the Pacific time zone. The finale of the two-game series, when the Dodgers are the home team, starts at the same time.
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