History and entertainment await in Knoxville’s newest crown jewel
Who’s on first? • John Flannagan’s guide to the Smokies roster
It’s hard to imagine Claude “Steel Arm” Dickey or Forrest “One Wing” Maddox crawling out of the shattered windows of the old Lay’s Packing Co. building and telling Randy Boyd that if he builds it, they will come. But the man clearly saw something in that faded hulk between Willow and Jackson avenues on the outskirts of Knoxville’s Old City.
And so he built it – Covenant Health Park, that is, the new home of the Smokies minor league team that opened on tax day as both a connection between the Negro League baseball glory of the past and a future that will quite literally be a game-changer for the City of Knoxville. For Boyd, it’s the culmination of a pledge he made in 2013 when he and his wife Jenny bought the AA Chicago Cubs franchise and vowed to reinvest in the team and upgrade the facilities.
Covenant Health Park, rising like a fist out of the area of town known as The Bottom, is the result of that pledge, and when the first pitch is thrown out on home opening day, those in attendance will find themselves sitting in what’s arguably the best minor league ballpark in America that could even hold its own, Smokies president and COO Chris Allen believes, with some of the nation’s major league stadiums.
Combined with the soon-to-open apartment complexes that connect to the stadium – Yardley Flats and the Beauford Delaney Building – the new park will not only serve as a draw for baseball fans from all over East Tennessee, it’ll introduce many who never venture to this part of Knoxville to one of the hippest, happening neighborhoods in town.
“I think you’re going to pull in and park and notice a neat part of the town,” Allen told BLANK Newspaper in a recent interview. “The Old City is such a cool place with unique restaurants and all sorts of cool spots, and this is going to magnify those spots. All of those retail spaces and restaurants are going to benefit from the stadium, and then when you walk into this facility, the first thing you’re going to notice is the largest video screen in minor league baseball that’s shaped like the state of Tennessee.
“It’s very impressive, and as someone who does this for a living and has been in baseball for 25 years, it still kind of takes my breath away. More importantly, it gives you that feel of a big league setting, where it almost feels like you’re at Wrigley Field, and so that feeling is going to be there when people come see us.
“And at the same time, we want to maintain that same vibe we had out in Kodak of being America’s friendliest ballpark,” he added. “That’s why we want everybody to come.”
A colorful history
The Smokies aren’t the first team to play on this particular patch of Knoxville ground. After the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad cut through this part of the city in the late 1850s, industry began to follow, and the area soon drew packing plants, lumber mills, machine shops and more, although prone-to-flood First Creek presented numerous environmental headaches and kept property prices low enough that many of the first residents were, according to Jack Neely writing for Knoxville History Project, “working people of modest means, especially African Americans, many of them formerly enslaved – and European immigrants, many of them refugees who arrived in town with little or nothing.” Known later as The Bottom because of its predisposition to flood before city engineers rechanneled First Creek in the late 1940s, the area became home to the first baseball team around 1886, when the mule-drawn streetcar line Mabry, Belle Avenue & Hardee Street Railroad Co. “subsidized a baseball diamond touted as ideal, for a team sponsored by merchant Eli Lieber.”
“It’s unclear exactly where it was, just that it was near the creek,” Neely continues. “It’s possible that it was near the future location of Caswell Park,” now located on Winona Street. A 1908 Knoxville Sentinel article references Knoxville City League games played at Brewer’s Park, “the new grounds which have been built at the end of the Jackson Avenue car line,” and the next year, historical records tell of a game between the Coca-Cola Stars of Knoxville and the Chattanooga Giants.
By 1920, it was renamed Booker T. Washington Park, and the newly formed Knoxville Giants, part of the Negro Southern League, played its home games there. Earlier this month, Smokies administrators unveiled seven statues around the new park that pay tribute to some of the big names of that team, including Dickey, Maddox and William Brooks, a school principal and the team’s first manager.
The tributes, Allen said, serve as a way to honor the past while reminding Smokies players and fans that the stadium is built on a history that wasn’t always pretty. During a June 2023 groundbreaking for the project, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon reminded those in attendance that the city’s urban renewal projects of the 1970s and ’80s uprooted Black families and Black-owned businesses in the name of progress that never materialized, and that the new stadium would be a way to rectify those wrongs through economic development.
“This is going to revitalize a part of town that hasn’t seen economic development in decades,” she said at the time.
For Allen, the organization’s mission remains the same as it has been: to play ball and entertain those who come to watch. And if doing so helps out the area, that’s a bonus.
“This is a baseball stadium and multipurpose facility for the community, and the statues represent our strong ties to the local community and are designed to pay homage to the area and the people from this area,” he said. “It’s not our job to right any of the wrongs of the past. Our job is to be good stewards of the community and a strong partner for the community.”
Part of that, he added, is shining a positive spotlight on an area of the city that’s often painted with a broad brush. Parking in the area will be limited to public and private lots such as the city-owned ones beneath the Summit Hill and James White Parkway overpasses, and social media commentary is often rife with racially charged declarations that crime in the area poses a danger to public safety. Lindsey Archer, the community relations and social media manager for the Smokies, is one of the individuals in the organization pushing back against such claims.
“A lot of people are worried about the safety of utilizing the parking that’s already here, but I live here. I can walk to work,” she said. “I’m a young woman and I’ve never had a problem. I believe it’s going to be just fine, and one thing I’d point out is that so many people are going to be coming to the park on gamedays, there are going to be a lot of large groups in the parking lots and on the streets.
“One of the things we’re really trying to do, on a broader spectrum, is to say that the stadium is the bridge between East Knoxville, downtown, West Knoxville and the whole area, because it’s just another part of our amazing city. Those of us who work here, we all come here daily, and a lot of us live in the area.”
A diamond in the rough
Optimally, she added, it’ll be finer than fine, especially when newcomers stand beneath the shadow of the park and gaze upon its magnificence. A stone’s throw from the limited underpass parking, the stadium glistens in the early April sun, the concrete free of footprints and the grime of time, the Phoenix Conversions First Base Gate drawing attention to a set of stairs leading up to the concourse level. At the foot of the stairs, Archer points out, a time capsule is buried; 25 years from now, it’ll be cracked open and its contents marveled at: a replica of the Kodak stadium; newspaper clippings from the final Smokies home game in that place, as well articles celebrating the University of Tennessee’s 2024 national championship win in the sport; a base from the last home stand; one of the team’s new jerseys from this season; and more.
Halfway up the stairs is the entrance to the player’s area of the stadium, and to say that the Smokies will be getting the royal treatment is an understatement. There’s an antechamber outside of the locker room itself for family members and pre- and post-game lounging. A refrigerator is stocked with custom-ordered drinks from each player; a couple of video game cabinets offer electronic entertainment.
“There’s nothing like this in the old Kodak stadium,” Archer said. “This is the family waiting area, so after the game, while the guys are changing, their families, wives, girlfriends or whoever can hang out in this area. We have couches, we have different games for them to play. Before, it was just a big locker room, and they would all bring their Xboxes to plug in.”
If the communal area is impressive, then the clubhouse itself is literally breathtaking. Warm, dark wood, oversized leather couches and pristine jerseys hanging beneath monogrammed placards await the guys, none of whom, as of this writing, have laid eyes yet on what awaits them in the new facility. It’s as professional a setup as many of them have likely ever seen, and even those players who may one day step up to the big leagues may never have amenities this nice even then.
“I want to say we have three or four prospects in the top 30 [of all players spanning the seven Cubs affiliates], but a lot of our guys moved up to Iowa [the team’s Triple-A affiliate based in Des Moines], so we have a lot of new faces coming in,” Archer said. “Some of our notable players are back from last year – Pablo Aliendo [catcher], who’s a fan favorite, is back, and [outfielder] Jordan Nwogu, one of the biggest prospects we have right now, started with us back in 2022, I believe.
“Frankie Scalzo, a great relief pitcher, will be back, as will a lot of guys we ended the last season with, like [catcher] Casey Opitz, Brad Deppermann and Sam Armstrong [both pitchers]. It’s kind of a young team with a few older guys, and we’re excited.”
Archer started with the Smokies organization in 2021 after an internship in Kodak during her senior year at UT. She’s at every home game (all 69 of them) and is present for media appearances, the occasional road game and other Smokies-centric activities that require a social media presence. Originally from Southern California, she’s a former softball player who grew up going to several Dodgers games per season, and that she can walk to work at the most prestigious minor league park in the country to do her part in promoting one of the most promising teams on the AA circuit is quite literally a dream come true, she acknowledged.
“I love that we get to do so many things,” she said. “It’s everything from promotion to theme nights to the giveaways to hosting something on the field to, for some games, running the video board or running a camera. It’s something different every day, and to do all of that and come to a baseball stadium every day for work? No complaints over here!”
Something for everyone
And given the amenities of Covenant Health Park, there’s likely going to be no complaints from anyone who steps foot within. The away team’s locker room isn’t quite as luxurious, but by minor league standards, it’s top-notch. It also serves as the home dressing room for the soccer players of One Knoxville SC, which kicks off its USL League One season April 26 and will share the stadium with the Smokies. Away teams who visit to take on One Knox will be granted access to a third locker room within the stadium, an auxiliary clubhouse that’s spartan but comfortable.
The Smokies, obviously, will be treated like kings. Just off of the locker room is a training area with four tubs for ice baths, exam/massage tables and other gear designed to keep the players at peak performance levels. Coaches’ offices line the twisting hallways throughout the guts of the new facility, and just down one of the hallways is a set of stairs that leads directly to the home team’s dugout. Although classic in design, the space is enormous, and the size of it will be as much of a showstopper as the clubhouse, Archer said.
Just to the left of the dugout is a curious-looking patio area, complete with tables and chairs, situated almost directly behind home plate. Of all the 7,500 seats in the $117 million stadium, these are some of the most premium, Archer added, available through purchase of Home Plate Seating half- ($2,450) or quarter-season ($1,450) tickets. These intimate packages include access to the Luxury Level Club, sponsored by ORNL Federal Credit Union and situated directly above home plate, where exclusive membership to one of the accompanying suites includes VIP entry, a nightly buffet and one parking pass per four seats, all for the princely sums of $4,750 for season tickets or $2,650 for a half-season.
Don’t want to commit to that many games? You’re in luck, as there are various packages through which fans with disposable income can rent out the dugout suite or get access to the Luxury Level Club for themselves and some friends. Ten tickets to the dugout patio will run you $900 from Sunday to Thursday, and $1,100 for Friday and Saturday games, and that includes a trip to the buffet inside the luxury suite.
“You can get your food from the luxury-level suite and bring it down, and then we have other luxury-level suites that are going to be $2,000 for Sunday through Thursday games, and $2,500 for Friday and Saturday games,” Archer said. “That includes 20 tickets and a $500 food credit. The club itself has an indoor and outdoor area with fixed seats in the front, as well as seating inside where you can watch the game on the screens. It’s a nice, private area that’s climate-controlled, and we think it’ll be an amazing fan experience.”
But what about those fans who consider themselves proud bleacher bums? Not to worry; baseline seating is more than affordable, with the lowest ticket price set at $18.50 for a weekday game. And while the well-heeled may be enjoying prime rib from a carving station in the luxury suite, there are still plenty of concession areas (six of them total) along the main concourse for those who prefer more traditional baseball fare.
But that’s not the only option for fans on a budget. Right beside the Elm Hill Gate off of Willow Avenue, the Modelo Watering Hole sits just behind right field and beneath the water tower salvaged from the demolition of the Lay’s site. It’s essentially a bar at a ballpark, with easy access to Pioneer K-Jay Corner, which touts “unique outfield seating located beyond the right-field wall” with “pub-style seating available for single-game ticket purchase.” Those tickets? Roughly $26.50 per person. On the other side of the field, between left field and third base, is the Bush’s Beans Picnic Pavilion, where single-game tickets run around $46.50.
Other areas of the park are sponsored by familiar names, as well. There’s the Garza Law Firm First Base Porch; the Smokies Party Porch; the Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union First Base Concourse Suites; and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Third Base Gate. The entire park, it’s safe to say, is branded by the sponsors whose money helps to defray some of the cost, and their investments have been wise ones: There’s not a bad seat in the house, and whether a fan’s goal is to get a farmer’s tan while scarfing hot dogs and popcorn or entertaining clients in the air-conditioned repose of the palatial Luxury Level Club, the Smokies have a ticket to fit that individual’s budget.
A multi-use stadium
And that’s just for baseball. Covenant Health Park, Allen pointed out, is so much more than just a ballpark.
“One thing a lot of folks don’t realize is that the ballpark we just left, we had more than 300 events a year, and we’re going to do something very similar here,” he said. “For one thing, we’ve got our agreement with One Knox soccer, and they’ll have 25 matches here. We’ve spoken with three different promoters, and we’re in the process of working on some [live music] dates right now, because we think it’s going to be a great venue for outdoor music and entertainment.
“We hope to actually announce something in the next 30 days, because we’re working hard on it. We’re looking at festivals and concerts and a little bit of everything. There are lots of different things we want to do here: a light show inside during the winter months, or a full-sized skating rink maybe starting in year two. Randy [Boyd] would like to do something of that nature, and he’s the guy who signs the paychecks, so if that’s what he wants, he’ll find a way to get it done!”
Speaking of done, the stadium isn’t quite complete, and Allen said work will likely continue on punch-list items throughout the rest of the year. Most of it includes fine-tuning the facility in ways the public won’t notice or be inconvenienced by, and of course work continues on the condos in Yardley Flats and the Delaney Building. Contractors were blessed, Archer said, by the relatively dry conditions over the fall and winter, and by the time East Tennessee’s rainy season began in February, most of the work had moved indoors.
“They’ve just been going nonstop,” she said. “I live right across the street, and I hear construction all day long. I moved there two years ago, and I started with the Smokies in 2021, and my first week was when we had this big all-staff meeting and they started telling us about a new ballpark. It’s kind of crazy now to be standing on this field in 2025 and remembering that and seeing how far we’ve come. Getting to see it every day, to come to work and make a little lap and notice everything they’ve done, it’s just amazing.”
He built it. And they’re coming. Tickets are selling at a brisk pace, and numerous future matches are almost at capacity. There’s undoubtedly a curiosity factor at play, but more importantly, Knoxvillians sense that this is a special place. When the lights come on for night games, Covenant Health Park shines like a beacon, drawing eyes from passing cars on the nearby interstate, and at the conclusion of every Friday and Saturday home game, the sky over the stadium will explode with fireworks.
An experience unlike any other
Fireworks. A video screen bigger than any other in Tennessee sports – including the screens in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, and FedExForum in Memphis, where the Grizzlies compete. A children’s play area so packed with amenities that grown-ups will be hard-pressed to resist trying them out. The amenities are plentiful, but for all of its exterior glory, no amount of words can do justice to what it’s like sitting in the stands.
The field itself unfurls like an ocean of green, and the retractable pitcher’s mound (made so in order to keep the park a multi-use facility that can also host soccer games) is an island atop it. The city’s skyline vanishes behind the towering walls, and when the games themselves are taking place, the rest of the world outside of the park ceases to exist.
“When people first come here, they’re astonished,” Archer said. “It’s one thing to talk about it, but no one truly understands what it looks like until they get here. For one thing, it’s just massive. One of my favorite things is that it’s like a bowl in that you can’t see out to the street, you can’t really see anything of the city. You are solely in the ballpark, and you become so immersed in the game that you really feel like you’re on the field with the players.
“And we’re not just catering to the baseball fans. We want it to be a fun night out, or a day out, at the ballpark, and we realize that not everyone is going to come and watch every single pitch. So we want to make it great for fan experiences of all levels of enthusiasm.”
The last stop on the exclusive tour for BLANK: Boyd’s personal suite.
He maintains an office at the park, and while he’s kept his fingers on the pulse of its development, Archer said, he also trusts the team he’s assembled to bring his vision to life. He still has plenty of critics, Allen pointed out, but even they will be impressed by the new stadium, and what it means for Knoxville, if they just give it a chance and come to a ballgame.
“I’ve been working in baseball for a long time, and I’ve worked for teams that have 20 or 30 owners, smaller groups of owners, and even ma-and-pa outfits – and Randy and Jenny Boyd are the best owners I’ve ever worked for,” Allen said. “They let you run the company, because that’s what they hired me to do. Randy supports you, he gives you the resources to be successful and he just always does what’s right. Any time you’re a public figure, you’re constantly in the spotlight, but Randy has a plan and he sticks to his plan.”
Right now, that plan is to introduce East Tennessee to the Knoxville Smokies, and to the facility that’ll serve as their home for years to come. This week, Allen said, is meant to be a celebration of those things because, for the first time since 1999, someone will yell out that familiar ballpark phrase within the city limits of Knoxville:
“Play ball!”
“This has been a long time coming for folks who have missed baseball for 25 years since we moved to Kodak,” Allen said. “I’m a little biased, but I think it’s the nicest minor league ballpark in the country at this point, and I think it’s going to be that way for a long time. It’s a unique ballpark with a lot of character that represents East Tennessee, and particularly the Old City, very well.”
Who’s on first? • Players to watch in inaugural season at Covenant Health Park
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