Battle At Bristol Breaks Attendance Mark; SMI Planning Sequel

The Univ. of Tennessee-Virginia Tech game last night at Bristol Motor Speedway "drew an NCAA single-game record crowd of 156,990," breaking the previous NCAA record was 115,109 at Michigan Stadium for Notre Dame-Michigan in '13 (AP, 9/10). It was a "spectacular reality" that featured a "majority" Tennessee crowd (Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL, 9/11). The "sheer magnitude of the event was its best asset, it was also its challenge -- and the reason why, despite the desire of organizers to do it all again, this felt like a spectacular one-off." SMI CEO Marcus Smith said of the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, "We'll have another one." Smith, asked where another game might be played, said, "Who knows?" Smith said, "Probably not just any racetrack would work" (USATODAY.com, 9/11).

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and former NFL QB Peyton Manning represented UT with the pregame coin toss (THE DAILY).