Virginia Tech and Tennessee "will play a neutral site football game in 2016 at Bristol Motor Speedway," according to a source cited by Andy Bitter of the ROANOKE TIMES. No date has been set. The track has scheduled a news conference for Monday at 11:00am ET "with a to-be-announced panel of guests." With a seating capacity of 160,000, a sold-out game at BMS would "shatter the college football attendance record" of 115,109 set last month by the Notre Dame-Michigan game in Ann Arbor. BMS is "about the geographic midpoint between the two schools." Discussions for the game "have taken place for more than a decade but logistics and schedules have prevented it from being finalized." SMI Chair & CEO Bruton Smith, whose company owns the track, previously offered the schools $20M each "to play the game in '05" (ROANOKE TIMES, 10/10). ESPN.com's Joe Schad cited a source as saying that the game is "likely to be played" on Sept. 10, 2016. Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver said, "It has the chance to be a really nice event." He added, "The idea has been in the works for 'three or four months.'" It is "unknown exactly where the playing field will be placed relative to the track and infield, which is composed entirely of asphalt" (ESPN.com, 10/9).
