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The most ambitious special-event game in Major League Baseball history is now awash in construction, furthering the initiative to turn a massive motorsports venue into a ballpark.
The league, along with a series of contractors and field consultants, is now fully underway on its work to turn Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee into a playable baseball facility for the upcoming MLB Speedway Classic on Aug. 2 between the Braves and Reds.
Work includes a temporary removal of some infield structures, the installation of nearly 18,000 tons of gravel to level off the infield, and another 340 tons of clay to serve as a base for the synthetic playing surface, similar to the one used at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Additional lighting will also be installed to cater to the specific needs of baseball.
Like other MLB special-event games such as those previously held at the Field of Dreams complex in Iowa, the preparatory work in Bristol also includes fencing, padding, foul poles, and the installation of temporary structures to house locker and weight rooms, trainers’ offices, and batting cages.
“It’s kind of like Christmas for us,” said Bristol Motor Speedway president Jerry Caldwell. “We’ve been preparing for a few years now for a Christmas meal, and we’ve now at least gotten the food together, and are starting to prepare. Our engineers are pleased with the progress to date, and we’ll be continuing to move that along over the next few weeks.”
All of those elements will then be quickly removed to return Bristol Motor Speedway to its prior state for NASCAR’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Sept. 13.
Attendance Matters
Though set to be the largest single-game attendance of the season, the league and Bristol Motor Speedway have not finalized their seating manifest for the game. Officials, however, said the final turnout “will be historic,” and the figure could challenge the 115,300 who saw a 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the largest crowd to date to see a baseball game.
“I am so thankful for that experience,” said MLB Network analyst and former player Sean Casey of competing in that prior game in Los Angeles. “To think about a baseball game being in Bristol, the history of the speedway, and what that’s meant to NASCAR … it’s going to be a one-of-a-kind thing.”
While a massive crowd for baseball, that plan will still not use all of the roughly 165,000-person capacity at Bristol Motor Speedway, the world’s eighth-biggest sports venue. Because of the oval shape and massive infield at the facility, the league has sought to balance between having as many fans attend as possible while still ensuring proper views of the game.
The league has supplemented its Bristol game plans with on-site concerts by Tim McGraw, Pitbull, Jake Owen, Timothy Wayne, Reyna Roberts, and Adam Doleac, as well as a fan festival.
“We’re working to make sure that for every fan who walks through that door, there’s a value proposition for them, whether they want to be closer to home plate, closer to the concert, or anywhere in between,” said MLB director of global event business and strategy Aaron Kaplan.
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