Bristol Motor Speedway Set to Host Virginia Tech-Tennessee in 2016

The Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies have agreed to play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 10, 2016.  A move that has been in the works for around 15 years, Bristol Motor Speedway is halfway between the two schools in Northeast Tennessee, but the more important point is how many people could attend the game.  Bristol Motor Speedway can hold about 160,000 fans and the organizers involved are doing this in part because they want to set a record.

This has been a topic of conversation between the two schools since the late 90’s and was revisited in 2005 when the track was renovated.  The result was that Virginia Tech was really interested but Tennessee was not biting.  Things have changed as Tennessee is not quite what it has been at those times, has a different head coach in Butch Jones.  They are more interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to get all of this press as well as strengthening the early part of their 2016 schedule as they try to climb up the SEC ranks and reclaim former glory.

The natural transition has been talking about the playing surface.  Everyone involved is confident that they can make it a great field and experience for the players as their research suggested that turf companies are perfectly able to deliver a good playing surface for the players.  They are also confident in the sight lines being good for the fans as well.

Obviously, the Bristol Motor Speedway is doing everything they can to make this a huge deal to set an attendance record and if it is a big success, they would probably like to see more of these games.  As it is, they have an opportunity to break the current record of 115,109 set by the Michigan-Notre Dame game earlier this year by close to 45,000 people and get a ton of TV coverage in the process.