MLB Network has been running promos recently on a special event happening in August, this summer. An event intended to help grow the Major League Baseball audience outside of its traditional 30 stadiums and markets. An event that sort of harkens back to when baseball games were played in massive non traditional sports arenas, college or university football fields, and huge stadiums that dwarfed the field of play. And an event, unlike previous special event locations like Williamsport, PA and Rickwood Stadium and London, England that will be played inside the oval of a very famous racetrack – Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway.

This particular special event game is being called “MLB Speedway Classic 2025.” It pits the Atlanta Braves against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, August 2nd. There is a ton of information on the game, pre-game festivities, fan fest stuff on the official website page of the event – MLB Speedway Classic. So, if you are interested in going, purchasing tickets, attending the pre-game stuff, fan fest, etc, I encourage you to go to the above link and read up on it.

I was curious how the MLB team of engineers and marketing specialists were going to construct a baseball field, stands for fans, seating in general inside a racetrack or speedway. Then, I remembered, I don’t know much about speedways or NASCAR racing. So, I checked out some images, once again on the MLB Speedway Classic 2025 page and here is what I found:

The middle of the track, apparently, is so massive that you can fit a major league caliber baseball field, bullpens for each team, a concert stage, and plenty of seating in it. Wow, and you still have all the seating around the racetrack for fans to pile in to see the game. Here are some cool images you see when selecting a certain ticket area at the game in Bristol:

And one from a ticket site online that I looked up for ticket prices. The blue highlighted areas still had seats available as of this afternoon.

From the promos and online information, there has never been a professional (MLB) game played in the state of Tennessee. There are several MILB (Minor League Baseball) teams in Tennessee and surrounding areas such as the Knoxville Smokies and the Asheville (VA) Tourists, but they are still a good distance from Bristol. This game will be a very unique one in so many ways.

I like that Major League Baseball branches out and schedules these special event games. It helps draw fans that probably would have to drive several hours just to see a minor league game, let alone a professional one. In fact, the nearest MLB stadium to the Bristol, Tennessee area is probably a toss up between Atlanta, Cincinnati, and maybe DC or Baltimore. And the fact that a baseball field and fan fest area and concert stage and seating and bullpens all fit inside the middle of a racetrack – wow that just blows my mind. Awesome idea, MLB, and I hope it is a roaring success!!!

Please note, all images snipped from http://www.mlb.com subpages.