KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A unique feature -- a scoreboard in the shape of the state of Tennessee -- will greet visitors to Knoxville's new downtown stadium when it opens in 2025.
The cost to add it and some "ribbon" message signage that will flank the interior of the structure is estimated at an additional $1.593 million.
Entrepreneur Randy Boyd will cover the cost of the 124-foot-by-31-foot feature, which represents a change from the more traditional 60-foot-by-25-foot scoreboard that had been planned.
News of the scoreboard change emerged Tuesday morning as the city-county sports authority met for the first time since the fall.
Construction is on target for the facility, to be located east of the Old City along Jackson Avenue. The stadium will host Boyd's Smokies AA baseball team, soccer, concerts and multiple other events.
It's on track to open in time for Smokies baseball in spring 2025.
According to Barry Brooke, the sports authority's construction representative, construction progress includes completion of the concrete foundations and walls for the bullpens. The initial concrete layer for grandstand seating is about 70 percent installed and about 85 percent of the concourse's first layer of concrete has been installed.
Last week's weather didn't help on the site, but cooperative weather in the fall expedited the project, he said.
Originally, the idea was to have a scoreboard shaped like the state. It's the kind of iconic image that gives the stadium its own identity.
For cost-cutting reasons it ended up being taken out. Now it's back in.
First Horizon Park in Nashville where the Sounds baseball team plays has a distinctive guitar for a scoreboard, said Doug Kirchhofer, CEO of Tennessee Smokies baseball. Knoxville will get a scoreboard in the shape of the Volunteer State, he said.
The authority also Tuesday accepted the official dollar amount for a couple other changes to seating areas it previously had approved. The cost amount for the seating changes discussed last fall, including a change behind home plate, will be about $349,000, according to Brooke. That cost will be absorbed by Boyd, not the public.
The estimated cost of the project, with changes addressed Tuesday, is now about $116 million. Denark Construction is overseeing construction.
A time lapse has been recording progress on the project.
The Smokies will leave their home of 20-some years in Sevier County off Exit 407. Before moving to Sevier County, Knoxville's Minor League team played for decades at a decaying stadium off Magnolia Avenue.
When the team moves back to Knoxville, they'll be called the Knoxville Smokies instead of the Tennessee Smokies.
Last year the team won the Southern League Championship.
