One of the major themes during the Sports Business Journal World Congress of Sports held this week in Nashville was let’s play ball in Tennessee.
Specifically, let’s play ball at Bristol, baby!
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred participated on a panel in the popular sports conference and also fielded questions from media members during an availability on Tuesday afternoon in the capital city of the Volunteer state.
The big topic was the upcoming MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway, Aug. 2 to be played on a field constructed inside of the infield at the iconic Bristol Motor Speedway. For sports history buffs, the game between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will be the first official American or National League game to be played in the state of Tennessee.
Manfred told journalists he’s looking forward to a great game.
“Big crowd, big crowd,” Manfred said. “We think that it's an opportunity to have a really large audience for a major league game, and we think the setting in really a legendary speedway is going to be awesome for a baseball game.”
He said the state is full of passionate sports fans and has avid baseball fans. In Bristol, the location is basically smack dab in the middle logistically on a map between the two MLB franchise locations, which sets up for a royal battle in a region where fans have strong allegiances to both teams. The game presents an opportunity for many fans to experience a live MLB game for the first time in their lives.
"There's great baseball culture here," Manfred said. "Tennessee Volunteers are national champions. Vanderbilt also has a great program. There's great alignment between the fan base of NASCAR and our fan base. We're looking forward to a great event."
Manfred said he was confident the latest “dream” field that’s going to be built at The Last Great Colosseum will make the sport proud and provide a great arena for the skilled athletes who compete on both teams. MLB has conducted similar games recently in Birmingham, Ala., Williamsport, Pa., Dyersville, Iowa, Omaha, Neb., and Fort Bragg, N.C. Internationally, MLB has held recent special games in London, Mexico City, Seoul and Tokyo.
"Let me say this about site visits for these special games," Manfred said. "Every single time at our events, people have produced an end product that was way better than anything I imagined when I first saw the site. I'm absolutely confident that Bristol is going to be exactly the same in that regard. It's gonna be a great site.”
Another question the local Nashville media was asking to the Commissioner was about a possible future for an MLB expansion team in Music City.
"It almost goes without saying at this point that Nashville's a candidate, and a good candidate," Manfred told reporters. "I have learned that saying too much about any potential expansion candidate sets off a chain of phone calls from everybody, so I'm just going to leave it there."
When pressed by another reporter to see if there’s anything extra Nashville could do to make it happen, Manfred added, "I think Nashville is doing just fine in terms of making the case, they should be a great candidate for expansion.”
Bristol Motor Speedway President and General Manager Jerry Caldwell also attended the conference and told media in attendance that the famed half-mile track where so much NASCAR history has been made is ready for the baseball spotlight.
"We are thrilled with the progress and response from fans and are excited to have the Commissioner in the state of Tennessee with us today to be able to talk about all things baseball and certainly Bristol Motor Speedway and the MLB Speedway Classic,” Caldwell said. “We love being able to host the first Major League game in the state of Tennessee. We've developed a great partnership and friendship with the folks at MLB and they are world class at what they do and we are thrilled to be able to partner with them.”
Caldwell said its refreshing to hear from so many leaders in the sports world and the message between all is essentially the same.
“It's such a great reminder that it’s all about the fans,” Caldwell said. “Our (late) founder Bruton Smith told us that all the time. We all have to remember to make sure it’s all about the fans and making sure we are taking care of them. That’s so important.”
Caldwell mentioned that the game will be here quickly, in a little more than three months.
“It’s becoming very real," Caldwell said. "We’re approaching 100 days out from the game, and we’re thrilled with the progress.”
To purchase tickets, please visit https://www.mlb.com/events/speedway-classic/tickets.
