The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds are set to play in front of the largest crowd in MLB history on Saturday, as the two clubs will meet at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The game will also mark the first regular-season MLB game ever held in the state of Tennessee.
MLB announced earlier this week that over 85,000 tickets have been sold for the game. The current MLB attendance record was set on September 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.
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While Cleveland Stadium had the capacity to hold crowds of over 70,000 in the 1950s, modern MLB stadiums tend to have smaller capacities. Atlanta's Truist Park, which opened in 2017, has a capacity of about 41,000. Its previous home, Turner Field, could hold nearly 50,000 fans.
Dodger Stadium is the only MLB stadium currently open that has a listed capacity of over 50,000.
Saturday's game will take place on 124,000 square feet of Diamond Series AstroTurf, which has been installed specifically for the game. Following Saturday's event, MLB will donate the field to East Tennessee State University's baseball program.
Given the size of Bristol Motor Speedway, some of the views may be less than ideal. The experience will have a much different feel than other neutral-site games that MLB has hosted.
In 2021 and 2022, MLB held one game each year for its MLB Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Those games were played in a temporary stadium that held about 8,000 fans.
MLB also hosts an annual MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This game is intended for participants in the Little League World Series and tends to be played in front of about 2,500 people.
