Speedball?
Lee: ‘History will be made here’ at Speedway Classic ’25
BRISTOL, Tenn. — In 357 days, Bristol Motor Speedway will host the state of Tennessee’s first Major League Baseball contest between two of this region’s favorite teams — the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.
The game is scheduled for Saturday Aug. 2, 2025, and Fox Sports will carry it live. On Friday the outline of a baseball field was painted on the infield asphalt.
Similar in scope to the 2016 Battle at Bristol college football game, the contest pits popular teams with large local followings and stadiums that are nearly equidistant to BMS — just over 300 miles to both Truist Park in Atlanta and Great American Ball Park in the Queen City.
Billed as the Speedway Classic ’25, a regulation major league field will be constructed on the track infield facing toward the turns 1-2 side, a rendering of the design shows. Home plate would be near the middle of the infield parallel to the start-finish line with supplemental seating installed closer to field level.
Organizers unveiled plans during a celebrity-filled ceremony at the track featuring former Braves star Chipper Jones, former Reds great Eric Davis and NASCAR drivers Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and former Cup series champion Kevin Harvick.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he looks forward to attending the game.
“This is a historically iconic place and history will be made here,” Lee said. “We love our sports in this state and we love NASCAR. You are going to see a response from people around the country and from people right here in Tennessee.”
Lee said the game will showcase Tennessee and particularly East Tennessee and it will be difficult to measure the long-term positive impact on tourism.
“We know it will exceed $100 million in positive economic impact for the region and that is the start,” Lee said. “The ripple effects for months and years to come are hard to measure. We know when Tennessee is spotlighted, it’s good for Tennessee.”
Tourism is an important part of the state’s economy and visitation is occurring at record levels, the governor said.
“It will absolutely be a cool thing for people around the state and the region to attend but it will have lasting effects for a long time,” Lee said. “We have the fastest rate of growth in tourism of any state in the country. People are coming here in record numbers.”
Tennessee Commissioner of Tourist Development Mark Yezell echoed the governor’s optimism.
“We know this is going to be a party in Northeast Tennessee, especially with Bristol being such a great host,” Yezell said. “We’ve got America’s pastime with the Last Great Coloseum and 100,000 people. Does it get any better than that? We’re great at taking care of visitors when they come to Tennessee, this is going to be epic.”
Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB’s vice-president of global events, said Bristol is one of the few venues that could host an event of this magnitude.
“We felt, when we walked into this place, several years ago and we looked at it, there was no better stage to consider putting on a large-scale event that would bring two of our iconic franchises onto the infield of a racetrack, to further bring out what is so great about baseball.
“To be able to bring the game here to Bristol and create storylines that tie into a faster paced game, high energy and big moments, that is the stage we want to put that on and we’re excited to be here.”
Track President and General Manager Jerry Caldwell said BMS got the league’s attention after successfully hosting the 2016 Battle at Bristol that attracted nearly 157,000 fans to watch the University of Tennessee play Virginia Tech – with a regulation football field in the infield.
“This has been a several year conversation and it’s really exciting to see that come together,” Caldwell said. “We came on their radar after the Battle at Bristol and did that the way we were able to execute, was about the same time they were about to look at some new venues to be able to play baseball and the stars aligned.”
Specific seating details and ticket availability are still being finalized.
“Right now, the vision is to sell that side [turns 1-2] of it – frontstretch, backstretch and turns one and two. We’re still in the process of finishing drawings and the partners are figuring out exactly what it’s going to look like,” Caldwell said.
That includes what the seating capacity and design of what the field will look like, Caldwell said.
Baseball’s all-time attendance record is 115,300, set in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2008.
Installing the field is expected to take the entire month of July and removal would take about 15 days, according to Murray Cook, MLB field and stadium consultant.
The game will require removing part of the Goodyear building between turns 1 and 2, parts of lower pit walls and one of the higher pit walls, Cook said.
Cook and MLB first visited the Bristol facility in 2017.
Rumors of the game first surfaced in March when Fox Sports announcer Chris Myers mentioned that Bristol could be the site of an MLB game, during the Food City 500 pre-race show. Published reports earlier this week identified the Reds and Braves as the likely matchup.
