Major League Baseball Set for Historic Game at Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tennessee – Major League Baseball will make history on Saturday when it holds its first-ever game at Bristol Motor Speedway. This landmark event is part of the MLB Speedway Classic, featuring the Atlanta Braves versus the Cincinnati Reds.

This matchup marks the first time a professional baseball game will be played at a professional race car track. MLB plans to add NASCAR-themed elements to the event, helping to connect baseball with a broader audience.

Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB’s senior vice president of global events, shared, “It represents an opportunity for us to really focus in on having as many fans as possible at an event and to create a natural tie-in with another sport that is very much geared towards the same things that we’ve been driving towards the last few years — around speed, and being fast and bold,” he told CNBC.

The event is set to break attendance records, with Bristol Motor Speedway capable of holding around 90,000 fans. The current MLB single-game attendance record of 84,587 was set back in 1954.

MLB started construction in May to transform Bristol Motor Speedway into a baseball stadium. Yolkut noted there was even a building that had to be demolished to create the baseball field.

The initiative aims to attract a younger, more diverse fan base, reflecting the league’s success with past games hosted in unique locations like Iowa. Yolkut emphasized that this crossover experience could draw NASCAR fans to the game.

The game has been four years in the making. The first discussions regarding this event began in 2021 and involved extensive feasibility studies and partnerships with various organizations.

To enhance the fan experience, MLB is planning activities such as a fan zone and musical performances from artists like Tim McGraw, Pitbull, and Jake Owen, adding to the excitement of the historic game.

<p"Fans at home are also going to get some incredible visuals with the aerial shots of the stadium and the guys hitting home runs landing on a NASCAR track," Yolkut added. "It’s going to be pretty special."