By A.J. Kaufman, Managing Editor
It has been nearly a year since Major League Baseball (MLB) and Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) staff announced that the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds would play the Speedway Classic in the Tri-Cities.
The Aug. 2 game will be the first regular-season MLB game played in the Volunteer State. In recent years, MLB played games in locations, such as Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and North Carolina. Those games were the first regular season MLB contests in those respective states. Bristol fits into that mission by giving those who cannot always get to a baseball game in person a chance to do so.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee values the associated economic opportunities, saying last year, “From an economic standpoint, it’s hundreds of millions of dollars, and that means opportunity for Tennesseans. More importantly, what it does for me and for our state is it gives a picture to Americans of how remarkable and how unique it is here.”
The game will be the second professional sporting event other than racing held at the track. The Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies played each other at BMS in 2016. That event set a record for the largest crowd at an NCAA football game, with nearly 157,000.
An attendance of over 100,000 is being expected for the game. The all-time attendance record for MLB currently is 115,300 people for a preseason game in 2008 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
MLB construction teams arrived June 16 to build the field and raise the grade. The Business Journal viewed the progress June 24 during a media day. Once the field is built, that leaves about a month to complete the rest of the important elements.
Throughout July, BaAM Productions, a company that specializes in high-profile sports and entertainment events, will help construct clubhouses for each team and build locker rooms — with showers, strength and conditioning rooms, coaches’ and trainers’ offices, and batting cages, just like at any professional stadium. They will also build a grandstand along the first and the third baselines, with broadcast booths, camera platforms, media positions, video replay, and all the technical details that allow a game to be broadcast properly.
The Speedway Classic ‘25 will not only feature baseball, but also a music event, with a pregame concert featuring Pitbull, alongside headliner Tim McGraw. McGraw is the son of the late Tug McGraw, a pitcher who won the World Series with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
A full day of musical sets will occur in the Speedway Classic Fan Zone, a one-of-a-kind baseball fan festival that spans more than 220,000 square feet with interactive games, unique food, exhibits and custom photo ops for fans of all ages. MLB and BMS announced June 24 that Jake Owen will headline, along with fellow country music artists Adam Doleac, Timothy Wayne and Reyna Roberts.
“When you look at the history of this place, the home to the Appalachian League, the history of baseball in this region, the history of NASCAR within this region, music is deep in our DNA and in our roots. Being able to bring all those things together is really what it’s all about,” BMS President Jerry Caldwell added.
The summer showdown between two regional teams will undoubtedly draw fans and business opportunities from dozens of states and several international countries. The game will air at 7:15 p.m. that Saturday on national television with no other games running simultaneously.
“When you do large events across the globe…it’s really that family that you create from day one that allows you to put these things on,” Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB Senior VP, Global Events explained, while also praising public and private entities across the region for their collaboration. “And as you bring more of the family into the fold, you then get to create these great memories for the fans who will come to this game. And so, it’s very true here at Bristol Motor Speedway, that as we brought our family and Bristol Motor Speedway and Speedway Motorsports brought their family, we’ve now united as one big family to bring this game on August 2, and it’s something we’re incredibly proud of.”
