Braves vs. Reds Speedway Classic Draws 91K Fans to Break MLB Attendance Record

MLB officially set a new single-game attendance record for the regular season in the Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.

The announced attendance was 91,032 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It was already known that the first regular-season game played in the state of Tennessee was going to set an attendance record when MLB announced on July 28 that more than 85,000 tickets had been sold.

The previous regular-season attendance record stood for 71 years. A 1954 game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland drew 84,587 people to Cleveland Stadium.

MLB's all-time attendance record belongs to a March 2018 exhibition game between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers when 115,300 fans packed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

To create the unique venue, MLB needed to use gravel to level the playing field for baseball. The league also put in an entire Fan Zone, which included ferris wheel and concert stage, for fans to enjoy prior to first pitch.

Soft construction to convert the track began in May, followed by MLB and its vendors taking over in late June.

The Braves-Reds matchup became the first MLB game at a venue primarily used for auto racing. It was originally supposed to be played on Saturday night, but inclement weather caused a delay of nearly three hours before the first pitch was thrown.

Rain immediately returned to the Bristol area after the game got underway, forcing it to be suspended until Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The Braves won 4-2 thanks to Eli White's first career multi-homer game.