On Friday, Major League Baseball announced it will hold a game inside Bristol Motor Speedway — nicknamed “Thunder Valley” when it normally plays host to NASCAR — between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. The game is scheduled for August 2, 2025.
MLB has scheduled a number of regular season games at venues not normally used to host MLB games, including several recently. Since 1996, MLB has put on regular-season games in Australia, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
They have also scheduled games in the United States, including this past year when they held the Rickwood Classic in Birmingham, AL. Prior to that, MLB hosted two “Field of Dreams” battles, one between the Cubs and Reds, and the other between the Yankees and White Sox the year prior. Since 2017, MLB has played the “Little League Classic” at Bowman Field in Williamsport, PA (this year, the Yankees and Tigers will play the 2024 edition next Sunday evening). In 2019, the Tigers and Royals met in Omaha, NE, playing a game just before the College World Series began. The Marlins and Braves played a game at Ft. Bragg, NC, in 2016. There have been others as well.
So, in an effort to generate revenue interest in the game at a location (the Tennessee/Virginia border) where locals don’t normally get a chance to see major league action, MLB has scheduled the game between the Braves and Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway (the Reds will be the “home” team).
Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “Major League Baseball is excited to deliver a special game at Bristol Motor Speedway, a unique setting that sports fans will remember forever. The Reds and the Braves form an ideal matchup because of their dynamic talent and the proximity of their markets. We look forward to celebrating our game with a wide array of fans, both on and off the field throughout the weekend, and highlighting the rich traditions of sports, music and community in Tennessee and across the region.”
How do you fit a major league field onto the infield of a NASCAR track, you might ask. Actually, it might be easier than you think. MLB has shown how they will configure the field in relation to the Speedway.
Obviously, a racetrack is MUCH larger than an MLB stadium, so concessions will need to be made in terms of how to place and align the stadium. And while the track itself seats 146,000 for racing, many of those seats would be unsuitable for viewing. Here’s a few stills of how MLB plans to put the field down at Bristol.
Based on that, there will be a few thousand choice seats located directly behind home plate and down the left field line. The rest of the seating will be within the racetrack’s existing confines (and VERY far from the field).
Here are a couple views of how the game might look from the good seats.
Apparently MLB is envisioning giving whatever fans are located in the seats behind center field black and white signs they can use to form a finish-line checkerboard motif. They’d then put those signs down and watch the game.
Notice in the photos above there appears to be a giant video board suspended above the stadium. This will presumably help anyone in the oval seating to actually see the action on the field.
The final still approximates the view from waaaaayyyy out in left field. Even the suspended video board looks tiny from that vantage point.
You can also see how the field will look via this video:
Believe it or not, this won’t be the first non-racing sporting event to be held at Bristol. In 1961, the track hosted an exhibition National Football League game between the then-Washington R*skins and the Philadelphia Eagles.
They laid the gridiron out in the middle of the track. An estimated 8,500 fans saw that game. You can read more about it here.
Of course, a more famous (and better attended) football game took place between Tennessee and Virginia Tech back in 2016.
More than 150,000 were in attendance for that game. You can see more photos and read about the setup for that game here.
I’m guessing MLB is trying to set an attendance record for this game — because it can’t be “must-see” baseball for the majority of those in attendance. I imagine the event itself will be the draw. Currently the attendance record for a single game is 115,300, set on March 29, 2008, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a preseason game between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here’s how that game looked from a distant seat (and also notice how the field had to be configured in relation to the Coliseum’s much narrower oval:
So, if 150,000 were on hand for the Vols/Hokies tilt, they can probably surpass the 115+ thousand at the Coliseum. Obviously, this will be a game made for TV.
I’ll definitely watch, as I love gimmicky stuff like this, but I’m curious as to how the fan experience will be.
So readers. Have you ever been to a baseball or football game (or a Final Four) where the farthest seats are really almost too far from, the field? I always wondered what seeing a football game in the Horseshoe or Big House would be like from the “last” row. Have any of you ever experienced anything like this? If you could, would you go to the game in Bristol next August?
What do you think about MLB hosting a game in a venue like this? Do you think it’s good for the game, or just a marketing/advertising gimmick?
Love to hear what you think about this one!
One of my cousins went to a Final Four as he is a Villanova alumnus. He texted me a picture from his seats and my first thought was “Why bother?” I know, I know – you’re there for the experience. But all the players looked like ants on a VGA monitor.
I will try to go – have always wanted to go for NASCAR (but now a Formula 1 fan)
It is the Lambeau Field of NASCAR
I’d rather watch it on TV so that I can actually see the game
Yeah, I’ve been to a game where the farthest seats are really almost too far from, the field. Upper deck at Shea Stadium. Planes flying over from LaGuardia had better views.
When I attended USC in the late 70s & early 80s the Coliseum still had the track and the capacity was over 100,000. If you were high up, and down by the end zones, you were really far away. They then moved the field down by the west end zone, and lowered the field and brought seats close to the field, and put bleachers in the east end zone, with no seating behind in the Peristyle. The way they are going to fit a track back into the Coliseum for the next Olympics is that they will temporarily raise up the field over existing seats, probably the first 10 or more rows. They will do this with flooring, and like the Roman Colosseum there will be catacombs under.
I was at the Dodgers/Red Sox game at the LA Coliseum in 2008. They did that at the 50 year anniversary of the Dodgers having played their regular season home games there while Dodger Stadium was built.
My dad and I went for the chance to see our team play in a unique setting in another historic venue. Our seats were up near the lights in center field and while I could see everything, it wasn’t good in terms of actually watching the game.
Soooo, what’s the cost of laying down this temporary facility and carrying it away afterwards?
I can understand playing games on existing ballfields — Rickwood, Rosenblatt, Williamsport– but this seems to be a very expensive white elephant.
Probably pretty comparable to the Field of Dreams games tbh. Sure they got two games out of it, but they basically had to build an entire stadium next to the “real” Field of Dreams.
It’s got to be cheaper than NASCAR laying down temporary asphalt in the LA Coliseum.
I’ve been to Bristol for a couple NASCAR races, and it’s a very strange experience when you compare it to other tracks I’ve been to like Daytona or Charlotte because of the size. Bristol is currently the second smallest track on the schedule behind Martinsville (fourth if you count the exhibition events at North Wilkesboro and the aforementioned LA Coliseum), but what sets it apart is the stadium seating. It feels almost like watching a race in a hockey arena over a race track.
That said, you don’t truly appreciate the difference in size between different sports’ playing grounds until you see one on top of the other. I’ve been to NFL games, MLB games, and NASCAR races, but it’s strange to see Bristol, a place I felt was tiny compared to Daytona (the track I attend most often), dwarf a baseball field.
Was there any mention of what the OF dimensions are planned to be?
I did not see any. I am definitely curious about that myself. From the graphics, I appears the field won’t be completely symmetrical (and I *think* the left field line side will be slightly shorter than the right, but it’s impossible to really tell).
I don’t even know if the powers-that-be have this detail hammered out yet. But at least from the computer aided design, it appears the field will not have any crazy quirks or odd dimensions.
“The center field wall will be 400 feet from home plate.
Other dimensions for the field for the 2025 Speedway Classic will be 330 feet down both right and left field. The distance to left center will be 384 feet and to right center 375 feet.”
They should run a race simultaneous to the game. Really amp things up!
And if you hit a home run ball into a passing race car, you get a bonus run.
I’ve sat near top row at the Horseshoe before…really not that bad – the worse seats are the 2nd deck under the overhang where the only thing you can see is the field. I’d assume in a bowl stadium that doesn’t have decks that the last row would be further away, like this Bristol setup will be.
I’ve been in the last row of the Spectrum to see the flyers. Not a bad seat. Also, maybe the third to last row of Beaver Stadium. Not great. I’ve also been to the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. I don’t think there’s a bad seat for that.
I was at the ‘Game of the Century’, Houston vs UCLA in January of 1968 in the Astrodome. Sat in the first row of the upper deck behind what was normally home plate. With the floor over second base the players were hard to distinguish (except for KAJ) but the atmosphere was electric. I’ve been to many great sporting events in the decades since but nothing will ever top that.
I attended several other basketball games in the Astrodome after that including an NBA-ABA All-Star Game and at least two Houston Cougar games, but all of them (except for the ’71 Final Four) had more fan-friendly layouts with the court along the third base line and temporary seats across from the third base stands.
Awesome.
The suspended video screen, it should be noted, is a permanent part of Bristol and was installed in 2016.
Been to Bristol a handful of times, there really is nothing like it. It is truly an amazing experience.
As a resident of Western NC, very near Bristol, I’m honestly just pleased an event like this is happening in this region. Appalachia doesn’t get a lot of love when it comes to sporting events like this. Minor League Baseball is huuuuge in the area around Bristol, and the Braves are incredibly popular. Way back in the day TBS was a over the air broadcast, and Braves games were one of the few chances a poor kid would get to see live professional sports.
I have a strong feeling this event will be very well attended.
I attended the 2016 Virginia Tech game and it was a WILD experience! The scale of the stadium was absolutely stunning. We also camped out that night, which was an experience in and of itself.
However, college football is a different animal that MLB. I’m curious to see how well attended it is and how well fans can see the game. But as a one time thing, why not!
I’m indifferent to this, but it does bring to mind one of America’s true Ten Commandments: Anything in Life Worth Doing is Worth Overdoing.
With data tracking of digital ticketing, this may be the tiebreaker to see who gets the expansion team, Nashville or Charlotte.
*puts tinfoil hat down*
Western Carolina and East Tennessee State also played there in 2016. If memory serves me correct it was the week before The UT and Va. Tech game. Went to my first race there in March. It is really a nice area.
They should have a race going at the same time, during the game, that would be interesting….
I was at the Big House in Ann Arbor on Dec 11, 2010 (12-11-10 hmm) for the hockey game between the Wolverines and Spartans. Our seats were in row 93 and that wasn’t even the last row. The view was OK but I’m sure it would have been better for football. That was the only time I’ve been to Michigan Stadium so it’s nice to check that one off the list. Meanwhile, Pistons games when they played at the Silverdome were a joke. I recall sitting in the upper deck and totally losing concentration on the game since it was so far away.
Not sure if this is fitting. Football i understand in a venue like this but baseball? But why not. Look for stranger venues and tie ins in the future, anything to make an extra dollar.
Interesting that Cincy had to give up their home game for this, as I’d assume that the area has more Braves fans. But I’d assume Cincy can make a lot more money with this neutral site than a sparsely-attended home game