Bristol Motor Speedway and Major League Baseball (MLB) jointly announced Friday that the venue will host a regular season game during the 2025 MLB season. The matchup will feature the Atlanta Braves, the closest team to the track, and the Cincinnati Reds in what will be the first MLB game played in the state of Tennessee in its 150+ year history. The Reds will be the designated home team for the Speedway Classic, which will take place on August 2nd.
“Major League Baseball is excited to deliver a special game at Bristol Motor Speedway, a unique setting that sports fans will remember forever,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “The Reds and the Braves form an ideal matchup because of their dynamic talent and the proximity of their markets. We look forward to celebrating our game with a wide array of fans, both on and off the field throughout the weekend, and highlighting the rich traditions of sports, music and community in Tennessee and across the region.”
The Braves are only three years removed from a World Series championship and feature star players such as Ronald Acuna, Jr., Matt Olson, Max Fried, and Ozzie Albies. The Reds are one of Major League Baseball’s oldest clubs and boast young talent including Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, and Hunter Greene.
“On behalf of the team at Bristol Motor Speedway and Speedway Motorsports, we are thrilled to partner with Major League Baseball to bring the Speedway Classic to the ‘Home of Big Events’ on Aug. 2, 2025,” said Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway. “There is deep baseball history in Bristol and around this area, long acknowledged as the heart of the Appalachian League. In addition, Bristol’s location makes it the perfect ‘meet in the middle’ destination for a showdown between these two beloved clubs. It’s only appropriate for the World’s Fastest Half-Mile to showcase this game where the talented athletes will be on display in a venue that’s reputation was built on speed and high performance.”
The game continues a recent trend by the MLB to contest games in unique locations. In 2016, the Braves and Miami Marlins faced off on a field constructed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The league has also held games at other fields with rich baseball history, with the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals playing in Omaha in 2019, the host city for the College World Series.
The Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees played a Field of Dreams game in 2021, and the league held a match between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field earlier this year, the oldest existing ballpark in the United States. The league also hosts an annual Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with the next edition set to take place August 18th between the Tigers and Yankees.
Tennessee is also no stranger to baseball despite its lack of an MLB club. The University of Tennessee Volunteers are the defending College World Series champions, and the state has produced star players such as World Series champions Mookie Betts and David Price, Sonny Gray, Robbie Ray, and Brent Rooker.
The state also features three Minor League Baseball teams; the Nashville Sounds (the Milwaukee Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate), the Memphis Redbirds (the Cardinals’ AAA affiliate), and the Tennessee Smokies (the Chicago Cubs’ Double-A affiliate).
Despite the long, rich racing history that Bristol Motor Speedway has to offer, this will not be the first non-racing event held at the track. In 2016, the Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first ever college football game contested inside a race track. That game also featured the largest recorded attendance for a college football match.
