Baseball is coming back to Neyland Stadium this weekend for the first time since 1921, and the Savannah Bananas will be the ones to do it. The entertainment team is set to play two games in Knoxville, with one matchup at Covenant Health Park on May 21 and another at Neyland Stadium on May 23.
University of Tennessee officials said planning for the event began over a year ago after the Bananas reached out about their football stadium tour. Alisha Longworth said the campus is preparing for a crowd of 100,000 people at Neyland Stadium Saturday night, a turnout she said will benefit local businesses across the city. “When you put 100,000 people in Neyland Stadium, the economic impact for the entire city is great,” she said, adding that it is good for hotels and restaurants.
The university expects many out-of-town visitors for the games, and officials said they will have additional staff on campus Saturday to help with directions and customer service. They also started a traffic study in the fall with Visit Knoxville, KPD, UTPD and other partners as they look ahead to the demands of the weekend and to football season later this year. The same safety protocols used on football game days will be in place for the Bananas' visit.
The logistics have been just as unusual as the crowd size. The university grounds crew has spent more than three weeks turning the football field into a baseball diamond, bringing in clay, dirt and a mound. Longworth said one crew member, Darren, has a background in minor league baseball, and she said the staff has been deep in the work for days. “Our grounds crew has been very busy for the last three plus weeks,” she said.
That preparation is part of a wider test for the university, which has used the Bananas games and a recent Luke Combs concert to examine traffic patterns before the fall. Longworth said the setup gives the school a chance to see how a large event moves through campus, and she said there is confidence in the plan. “Absolutely no worries,” she said. “They have nothing to worry about. We will be ready for kickoff in the fall.”
Parking will be one of the biggest pressures on Saturday. Fans who have not pre-purchased parking are being encouraged to use Park and Ride shuttles from the Civic Coliseum or the Market Square area, with the Civic Coliseum option costing $25 round trip. Longworth said the downtown area is the best fallback for those who have not already secured a spot, and she said the Ag Campus may have limited parking available. One more scheduling wrinkle could add to the congestion: Tennessee softball may play at 11 a.m. Saturday if the team advances in Super Regionals. For now, though, the university is focused on a scene Neyland has not seen in more than a century, with baseball returning to the stadium under the lights and a city bracing for one of its biggest crowds of the year.
