Bristol Motor Speedway will host a Major League Baseball regular season game in 2025

Bristol Motor Speedway, the famous NASCAR racetrack located in Bristol, Tennessee, will host a Major League Baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds during 2025 regular season.

According to The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith are set to make an announcement at the track in Tennessee on Friday.

Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol hosts two NASCAR race weekends each year at its half-mile oval that features nearly 150,000 seats for spectators. The speedway is home to NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, on its 1.5-mile oval every Memorial Day weekend, and a playoff race on its 17-turn road course each fall.

It has hosted significant non-motorsport events, like a 2016 college football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech, which attracted 156,990 spectators – the largest crowd for an NCAA football game.

Bristol Motor Speedway: Tennessee vs Virginia Tech

Make no mistake, hosting a sold-out game at Bristol Motor Speedway would likely set an attendance record for Major League Baseball. Are the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds the teams that can do it? I have my doubts.

Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds: Average Attendance (2024)

Rank	Team	Games	Total	Average
No. 5	Atlanta Braves	55	2,093,711	38,067
No. 21	Cincinnati Reds	59	1,494,446	25,329

Right now, the record holder for the largest crowd for a Major League Baseball regular season game is between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2008, when they played at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The Red Sox beat the Dodgers in front of a crowd that exceeded 100,000 spectators – with the National Baseball Hall of Fame reporting as many as 115,300 fans in attendance.

Do the Braves and Reds or really, Major League Baseball have that much fandom to break the record? I guess we’ll find out next season.

Obviously, it goes without saying that the event itself will attract much more than the typical Reds and Braves fans and despite my National League and NL East loyalties I hope the event is a smashing success.

Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball continue to add special events to their already robust calendar

Over the past few seasons, we have witnessed games being played in London, Mexico City, Tokyo, and Seoul along with special locations throughout the United States such as Iowa for the Field of Dreams game, historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama and Williamsport, Pennsylvania – home of the Little League World Series.

MLB’s 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement outlined a schedule of international games. For 2025, the league and players intended to play in Tokyo to open the season, Mexico City in May, Paris in June, and San Juan in September.

So far, the Dodgers and Cubs are indeed set to play the opener in Japan, but no other international games have been announced for 2025. The Paris plan was scrapped over the winter with possible dates subject to negotiations between MLB and the Players Association.

In 2026, MLB intends to have games in Mexico City in May, London in June and San Juan in September, in addition to the locales used for the World Baseball Classic at the start of the season. [The Athletic]

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