Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech 'Battle at Bristol' sold out
If you were planning on getting your Battle at Bristol tickets for the Week 2 showdown between Tennessee and Virginia Tech sometime this summer or even in a few weeks from now, you had better start shopping on Craigslist.
According to KnoxNews.com, tickets are already sold out. Over 150,000 fans are expected to fill the seats, which will easily break the NCAA record (115,109) for single-game attendance.
“I don’t think any reasonable person could anticipate that with 150,000-plus seats that the track would be announcing a sellout well ahead of the game,” said Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart. “To me, that was not anticipated by very many people.”
Saturday Down South spoke with Volunteers coach Butch Jones earlier this year to talk about the highly anticipated game:
“Our players, staff and fans are extremely excited to be a part of this unique event,” Jones said. “The opportunity for us to showcase our football program in front of 150,000-plus fans is going to be special. It’s the first of its kind, and we can’t wait to get there.”
At home, Tennessee is 102k and VT is 66k. ~2 hour drive from Knoxville. ~2 hour drive form Blacksburg. I highly doubt that 150k+ will show up for a neutral game. It’s going to be more like 5-8k scalper tickets are going to be SOL on selling them when the game starts. It still would be impressive if they had ~140k show up.
Will be well over 150,000. Probably closer to 160,000. This game has literally been talked about for decades between the UT and VT fan bases. Besides this isn’t a normal neutral site game in Atlanta or Jerry’s World. This is an unprecedented event, and not-to-mention Gameday will be there. Tennessee will bring over it won’t be 50-50. Im expecting UT to bring 95K and VT will bring about 65K. There are thousands of fans of both teams in this area, not just Knoxville and Blacksburg (Although, Bristol itself, has way more UT fans).
*Tennessee will bring the majority, it won’t be 50-50.
It will absolutely sell out, locals have been talking about this game for years…
2 Hrs is nothing.. I drive 8 Hrs now to go to the regular games..
I hate Tennessee just as much as the next guy, but man I can’t wait to watch this game.
I’m leaning toward this being a manageable win for the Vols, unlike that Oklahoma game last year (my wife and I were actually in a Gatlinburg restaurant when that game went down…talk about some pissed of Vol fans, that place was pandemonium), but that Fuente hire has the potential to make this an interesting game.
I’m glad the game is week 2. I have a feeling by the end of the year VT is going to be a pretty good football team.
You and me both. I’m not giving tennessee the easy win on this one. When you underestimate the opposition, that’s when mistakes are made.
Yea. It was a good move on Fuente’s part to retain that drunk, bud foster. His defenses are usually really stout. But its going to be extremely difficult for a new coach and new QB to get into a rhythm against this UT defense. Fuente is a really good coach, but to beat this Tennessee team in his second game will be a very tall task.
Man, I would love to go to this event. Awesome venue. I can’t imagine what the lines to the bathrooms will look like, though. lol
If it’s anything like the airshow we had at McGhee Tyson recently, I think I’ll be leaving the game early. I’m going to assume that you better not drink anything, or go while the teams are still playing.
I must admit this is a brilliant idea and a huge promotion for both programs.
Dang SevenT, something nice 2 say about UT? Something wrong w/you?
Basketball season is over…why is a UK logo in the comment section?
Last time Kentucky played OM they stomped the crap out of Rebel.
Besides the NCAA is going to put the hammer down on OM so your short lived time at the top is over.
Lmao
Guess nothing’s wrong with him…
Lol stomped the crap out of us? I was at that game. We were about to fire our coach and y’all were at home with a decent QB. Both teams were God-awful. Difference is, y’all can’t even get it done in bball anymore. Football at UK will always be a joke. Keep praying for NCAA violations…not gonna happen moron. Read a book.
#hillbillybowl
Tennessee – Virginia Tech – Kentucky – West Virginia = The Hillbilly Quadrangle of Hate
Way more hillbillies in Alabama than any of those states
I use the term hillbilly proudly. Alabama doesn’t have many hillbillies. They have rednecks and white trash, but they’re not proud of it, and they pretend they’re not either of those.
orangeeli has it right on this one. Rednecks and Hillbillies are similar, but as I see it, the main difference between them is geography. Hillbillies are “hill folk” who live in a more mountainous environment, so calling a redneck in Northern Florida a “hillbilly” would be inaccurate. “Rednecks” generally are associated with flatland farmers. After all, the term redneck originated from the fact that farmers tend to get bad sunburn, especially on their neck.