The City of Knoxville and Knox County are working toward building a multi-use stadium near downtown, just east of the Old City.
Bringing professional baseball back to Knoxville is undergoing a stringent review, and community conversations are underway. A newly-formed Sports Authority has been tasked with doing a deep study of a proposed publicly-owned sports and entertainment stadium and will finance, build and manage the stadium if the proposal moves forward.
“In making this investment, the public benefit has to be greater than the public cost,” Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon has said. “A highly experienced Sports Authority has completed an independent analysis that shows this to be the case.”
“This private-public partnership on a stadium has the potential to tie together Downtown, the Old City, and East Knoxville while bringing a mostly vacant area back into reuse while creating new jobs and economic opportunities.”
May 25, 2023
Stadium Bond Sale Completed
The $114 million Knoxville- and Knox County-owned multi-use stadium, to be built in East Knoxville, just east of the Old City, has hit a major milestone this week and is moving forward – on schedule and within budget.
The Knoxville-Knox County Sports Authority's financing team, led by J.P. Morgan, went to the bond market Wednesday. Agreements were reached with buyers, pending final closure in June, to purchase $65 million in publicly-backed bonds to construct the stadium. The 30-year bond issue achieved a true interest cost (TIC) of 5 percent.
Market conditions are increasingly volatile and reflect investors' uncertainty regarding Congressional authorization to raise the nation's debt ceiling. The financing team factored in future unpredictability when deciding to finalize the financing the week of May 22 and secured several key buyers for the bonds. The City and Knox County's respective debt obligations remain unchanged from earlier financing plans.
Read Full Release
May 9, 2023
Knoxville Sports Authority Meeting Set for May 9, 2023
The Knoxville Sports Authority will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in the Board Room at the offices of KCDC located at 901 N. Broadway.
At such meeting, the Board will review and consider the following matters:
View Agenda [PDF]
For more information, visit
KnoxSportsAuthority.com. For FAQs, go to
KnoxvilleTN.gov/Stadium.
October 18, 2022
Knoxville Sports Authority Meeting Set for Oct. 25, 2022
The Knox Sports Authority will meet in its regular meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the City’s Public Works Service Center, 3131 Morris Ave.
The Sports Authority will be financing, overseeing construction of and managing the City- and Knox County-owned stadium, to be built on property just east of the Old City. The stadium is expected to host hundreds of events each year – professional baseball games, but also everything from soccer matches to concerts and festivals to other public events by early 2025.
This summer and fall, the stadium site is being graded, utility line relocations are underway, and upgrades are being made to the electricity, water, gas and sewer system infrastructures. In early 2023, construction of the stadium itself will begin.
An independent analysis estimated that the total economic impact of the publicly-owned stadium and surrounding private development in East Knoxville will be $480 million over 30 years, with more than 400 full-time jobs created.
For more information, visit
KnoxSportsAuthority.com. For FAQs, go to
KnoxvilleTN.gov/Stadium.
August 5, 2022
Mayors: Enlarging Stadium Tax District Will Benefit East Knoxville
The Tax Increment Financing district surrounding the publicly-owned multi-use stadium is proposed to expand into the Magnolia Avenue Warehouse District – several blocks beyond what was originally planned.
The stadium is expected to be a springboard for tens of millions of dollars in new private investment in East Knoxville. A larger TIF district helps ensure those new investments directly benefit the area.
The expansion of the TIF district reflects a robust pace and scale for the expected private investment, and it will leverage those investments as part of a plan to address anticipated higher construction and labor costs for the stadium.
Read More |
View Revised Magnolia TIF District Map [PDF]
August 4, 2022
Stadium Construction Moving to Next Stage
Motorists, anticipate the closure of a rectangle of East Knoxville streets as the next phase of construction gets underway for a new publicly-owned multi-use stadium.
Three months ago, portions of three streets, Jackson and Willow avenues and Georgia Street, were closed to accommodate initial utility work – the relocation of water and sanitary sewer lines.
That initial work has concluded, and now, Denark Construction crews will begin grading of the stadium site, to be followed by additional utility line relocations and upgrades to the electricity, water, gas and sewer system infrastructures.
Read More
| UPCOMING MEETINGS RELATED TO THE PROPOSED STADIUM PROJECT |
May 23, 2023 Sports Authority Meeting
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at City of Knoxville Public Works Service Center
June 27, 2023 Sports Authority Meeting
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at City of Knoxville Public Works Service Center
July 25, 2023 Sports Authority Meeting
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at City of Knoxville Public Works Service Center
Upcoming Sports Authority Board Meetings can be found
here.
| PRELIMINARY ARTIST RENDERINGS OF THE STADIUM PROJECT |
• Boyd Sports and the Tennessee Smokies AA Southern League baseball team plans to lease the stadium, but the facility would be designed to accommodate other sports and host hundreds of other non-baseball events each year, such as concerts, festivals or soccer games.
• Smokies owner Randy Boyd has agreed to enter into a market-value 30-year lease that would allow the Smokies to play in the new stadium for decades to come. Details on Randy Boyd’s plans for the
Smokies can be found here.
• As part of a larger redevelopment effort around the stadium, GEM Community Development Group, the private development partner to Boyd Sports, is planning to invest more than $100 million to build apartments, condos, restaurants and offices.
• No property taxes will be used to fund the stadium project.
A Tax Revenue & Economic Impact Assessment was conducted by CSL can be found here.
• A
spring 2025 date to start baseball in Knoxville in a new multi-purpose stadium is now likely because of global supply chain issues and a volatile construction market. The original date had been spring 2024.
• The City and County have formed a new Sports Authority to oversee the facility.
Details on the Sports Authority can be found here.
Questions? Send email to
[email protected].
Rebekah Jane Justice
Deputy Chief, Economic and Community Development
City of Knoxville
865-215-3086
[email protected]
Chris Caldwell
Finance Director
Knox County
865-215-2350
[email protected]