A Block Party and Information Session for the proposed multi-use stadium will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, 2021.

Join the Block Party downtown at 400 E. Jackson Ave., near the site of a proposed multi-use stadium, to learn more about this community-building project. Partners, stakeholders and designers will have information on hand to describe the proposed concepts of the multi-use stadium.

Come to part or all of the two-hour session. Talk one-on-one with project planners, representatives of the Tennessee Smokies, their multi-use development partner, Knox Pro Soccer, and community partners like the Knoxville Area Urban League and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center.

Bring the kids to the Block Party, in the shade beneath the James White Parkway. This will be a family-friendly event with food trucks and activities.

Advocates say the stadium and the hundreds of events it will host each year will create jobs and encourage new private investment in East Knoxville. 

The stadium, if built, would be leased to Boyd Sports and the Tennessee Smokies AA Southern League baseball team, but the facility would host hundreds of other non-baseball events each year, such as concerts or festivals. As part of a larger redevelopment effort around the stadium, GEM Community Development Group, the private partner to Boyd Sports, is planning to invest more than $100 million to build apartments, condos, restaurants and offices in East Knoxville.

The project is awaiting an economic impact analysis and other detail work by the newly-formed Sports Authority. If the independent data supports going forward and the City and County authorize it, a best-case scenario calls for construction possibly beginning within a year and the multi-use stadium opening for community use and events in 2024.