Baseball is coming to Bristol — and historic attendance is expected.
The MLB Speedway Classic between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves at Bristol Motor Speedway will break the all-time regular season single-game attendance record, MLB announced Monday.
The game, set for Saturday, Aug. 2, has already sold more than 85,000 tickets for the first American or National League game played in Tennessee. The will break the previous record of 84,587 set on Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.
MLB added that fans have purchased tickets from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nine countries on four continents.
Bristol Motor Speedway has held NASCAR races since 1961, but the venue — which holds 146,000 seats for races — has hosted more than just motorsports. There were 156,990 fans at the Battle of Bristol college football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech in 2016.
The game will have several unique features for fans in attendance, too. There will be a pregame concert with performances by Tim McGraw, Pitbull and Jake Owen, as well as a pregame player parade — similar to NASCAR-style driver introductions. After the game, the winning team will be presented with a custom Speedway Classic trophy in a NASCAR victory lane celebration.
Hall of Famers Chipper Jones (Braves) and Johnny Bench (Reds) will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.
The game is set for Saturday, Aug. 2, at 6 p.m. CT, airing on FOX, with pre-game coverage starting at 7 p.m. CT. You can still get tickets to the game here.
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