On Saturday, Major League Baseball sought to break its all-time attendance record, with more than 85,000 fans set to turn out to Bristol Motor Speedway to see the Cincinnati Reds clash with the Atlanta Braves. The previous regular season record was set in 1954 for a mid-September game between the Indians and Yankees at Cleveland Stadium, which saw a crowd of 84,587.

Things, however, went sideways from the very start.

Throughout the day, pop-up showers had been hitting East Tennessee. A light mist would become driving rain, occasionally drowning the Speedway area.

As the afternoon transitioned into the evening, the atmosphere and ambiance at The Last Great Colosseum – both inside and out – was full with summer vibes and the sound of live music. The Fan Fest in the main parking lot featured a Legacy Walk, highlighting great players from both the Reds and Braves. As the drizzle got heavier, fans started to flock inside for the pre-game festivities.

Tim McGraw took the stage just after 6pm, belting some of his greatest hits and even duetting a pop version of I Like It, I Love It with Pitbull. The north end did a tifo of the American flag, and then a pack of F18s performed the flyover. Chipper Jones threw the first pitch to the legendary Johnny Bench, officially kicking off the Classic.

Or so everyone thought.

The rain worsened right as the game was about to get underway. The tarp was pulled. Everyone rushed to seek shelter.

It wasn’t a downpour, but it was bad enough to result in a delay of 2 hours and 17 minutes. The rain didn’t last that long, however. MLB’s communication to the fans about the status of the game was poor at best, neglectful at worst.

Finally, around 9:40pm, the game began. But the rain had also started back up.

With Great American Ball Park located just 4 miles closer to the track than Truist Park, the Reds acted as the designated home team for the event. They managed to score a run in the top of the 1st inning.

By the bottom of the frame, the infield was under water. The grounds crew rushed to lay down bags of diamond dirt in an effort to keep the game going. But it was too little, too late.

As the tarp was pulled again, the entire speedway emptied out. Everyone headed for the exits. Not long after, the game was called and postponed to Sunday afternoon.

Did you know?
The Speedway Classic was the first MLB game to be played at a racetrack, but it wasn’t the first time baseball had met the asphalt. In 2023, the summer collegiate Carolina Disco Turkeys played a series at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

But not seeing much baseball wasn’t even the biggest gripe that fans had. The track had run out of some concessions – and all of its merchandise – before the game even began. Fans were stuck in truly hours-long lines. Some had spent more than 8 hours inside the speedway, and with almost nothing to show for it. Cell service at the event was also nearly non-existent due to overload and, presumably, a lack of repeaters, causing delays at the gates thanks to mobile-only tickets – another consistent pitfall of modern-day sports – and leaving fans unable to contact one another.

Late into Saturday night, angry fans took to social media to put MLB on blast for their failure in Bristol. Many called it a “money grab” – the league made thousands on concessions and stood to profit even more when the game resumed on Sunday – while others simply acknowledged it as a publicity stunt gone wrong. Either way, the Speedway Classic certainly didn’t go the way anyone had hoped.

On Sunday at 1pm, the game resumed under overcast skies and yet another threat of rain, though the weather held off for the Braves’ 4-2 win over the Reds. Official attendance was pegged at 91,032 – technically the new regular season record – a figure likely calculated from the total amount of tickets scanned on Saturday night.

The marquee event marked the first MLB game ever played in the state of Tennessee and fans in the Volunteer State hope that, despite the shortcomings of the Speedway Classic, it won’t be the last. Nearly 300 miles west of Bristol, Nashville has been vying heavily for an expansion franchise of their own. Even closer is Charlotte, North Carolina, another potential expansion target. The Speedway stunt and the sour taste it lefts in the mouths of fans will hopefully not have a lasting impact on MLB’s presence in the region.