Report: Reds and Braves set to play at NASCAR track in 2025

Bristol Motor Speedway, most renowned for being one of the most historic NASCAR venues, will play host to a 2025 Major League Baseball regular season game between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinatti Reds according to a report in The Athletic.

The announcement is expected to be made official on Friday at the race track at an event featuring MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith, the owner of the historic half-mile short track in Bristol, Tennessee.

This is not totally unexpected as FOX Sports broadcaster teased such an announcement in March prior to the Food City 500 Cup Series race.

Bristol Motor Speedway has a seating capacity of nearly 150,000 and is the site of two races at the highest level of American Stock Car racing. But the facility also recently played host to a NCAA college football contest between the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

That event drew a crowd of 156,990, a record for the highest attended game in NCAA football history.

The Redskins and Eagles played at the track back in 1961 as well.

This is on-brand for Major League Baseball, which has sought to expand the game domestically and internationally, promoting events at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa and the Rickwood Field Game in Birmingham, Alabama. It has also played games on the Little League World Series field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

A game on a NASCAR track just fits the domestic strategy as well as it’s also a perfect middle ground between both Atlanta and Cincinnati.

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