With a new stadium with top-of-the-line facilities, East Tennessee’s Minor League team is in for a wild ride
The sun was bright over the stadium last September, as the 6,632 fans in the stands looked on. It was the atmosphere you always experience at a Smokies game. The hot dogs and fries flowed out of the concession stands, the fans stood and sang “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” during the seventh inning, and Matthew Thompson threw six strikeouts during the game. And while the team lost that day, the fans showed up in earnest to support, staying until the bitter end on what was the team’s final league game in the stadium in Kodak.
The Smokies would end up having their best season ever last year, with 87 recorded wins. They also took home the best record in the Southern League for the season. And while we might not see many of those faces again this season, the feeling the team left fans last year remains with fans today as they anticipate a triumphant return of this beloved baseball team to Knoxville.
Ready for the Fans
One of the great things about minor league baseball is its accessibility to fans. There’s a deep connection fans feel to these guys who may be with them for just a singular season, but give off a hometown vibe that spectators can’t help but root for. And when these players head off for their next steps, many up to the Major League, there’s a sense for fans that they got to watch them take off.
Now imagine that same feeling, but in a bigger and bolder stadium in a bustling downtown where fans from near and far clamber to get seats. That’s precisely what the Smokies have to look forward to this year as they play their very first season at Covenant Health Park in downtown Knoxville.
When the gates open for the first game in the new stadium, Randy Boyd, owner of Boyd Sports, expects a sellout crowd—more than 7,000 fans ready to witness history. For many, it will be their first glimpse of the city’s newest landmark. Covenant Health Park has a similar seating capacity to the previous stadium in Kodak, but it employs a different approach.
“Our focus wasn’t on increasing or decreasing seats,” explains Boyd Sports CEO, Doug Kirchhofer. “It was about changing the mix of seating. There’s more emphasis on group areas, specialty seating, and spaces where people can interact and socialize.”
Doug knows the importance of socialization at Smokies games. At any given game, you can find him in the parking lot greeting families or chatting fans up inside the stadium. It’s that personal touch that embodies the spirit of minor league ball—a place where the lines between management and fans blur, and everyone feels part of a shared family.
“One of the great things about baseball and the experience of the baseball stadium is that the game allows for interaction of people who are there to watch the game and enjoy the environment,” Doug says. “Our focus is going to be to create a great entertainment experience for fans.”
When the Smokies moved from Bill Meyer Stadium to Kodak, the thought was that they would lose a lot of fans from Knoxville, but would make it up from fans outside the area who were coming to Sevier County for vacation, Doug says. “The team certainly attracted more local fans to the Kodak location than they were drawing in the Bill Meyer Stadium, and the reason for that, I think points to the importance of the fan experience.”
The fan experience has evolved significantly since the team last played in Knoxville. Covenant Health Park is designed with modern amenities that prioritize comfort and engagement. The team hopes this will strengthen community support and build a new generation of fans.
Major League Partnerships and Player Development
The Smokies have been affiliated with the Chicago Cubs since 2007, and Boyd Sports has seen hundreds of players come and go.
“That’s what leads to us looking back at the evolution of the player-development model that Major League Baseball teams have used,” Doug says. “At least in the past decade, there has been an increasing focus for major league organizations on player development, and specifically player health and wellness, and the type of facilities that the minor league affiliates are able to make available.
“The fact this new facility has been designed to incorporate all of the new facility requirements that have been put in place by Major League Baseball should make it a very friendly environment for our players.”
Jenny Boyd, who has been part of the Smokies success since 2013, says that while its sometimes jarring to see players grow in the program and then suddenly be gone to move up to the Major League, it’s also rewarding.
“We were so fortunate to have six or seven players on the team of the Cubs when they won the World Series, and we knew all of them,” she says. “That was meant to be for us to have a connection with those guys, and it was just totally thrilling.”
Looking Ahead
The Cubs finalize minor league rosters at the end of spring training. “Players report to Mesa, Arizona, in early March and they work through the spring training process,” Doug says. “We won’t know who will be on our roster until late March, just before the end of spring training.”
But that’s how it’s always been. What the team at Boyd Sports does know is that they’ll have some pretty great prospects. “We’ll have a team composed of a lot of players that the Cubs have high hopes and aspirations for,” Doug says, “or they wouldn’t assign them to contracts and they wouldn’t be part of the Cubs organization.”
The return of the Smokies to Knoxville is more than just a relocation. It will support players in a whole new way, increase the electricity of an already robust fan-base, and bring a fresh era of minor league baseball to downtown Knoxville.
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