Tennessee and Virginia Tech are set to square off this Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, a venue that seats 150,000 people. As a result, it’s expected to be the most attended college football game of all time. Despite Tennessee coming off of a disappointing performance last week and Virginia Tech not quite the program it used to be, the game will still be an interesting spectacle.
But it’s not the first football game that has been played at BMS. Back in 1961, the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington played in the infield of BMS, or Bristol International Speedway as it was known back then.
Only 8,500 people attended the game that night, despite it having a capacity of double that. The Bristol Herald Courier‘s Tim Hayes cites plenty of reasons the attendance was likely low, including reruns of old shows, date nights at drive-in movies, high school football, or Roger Maris’ home run chase.
The wait is almost over. Watch the @BMSupdates stadium come together for the @BattleAtBristol game this weekend! pic.twitter.com/besZvPtFkb
— Pilot Flying J (@PilotFlyingJ) September 7, 2016
Surely you’re wondering why the Eagles and Washington were playing in Bristol of all places. Back then, the Bengals and Falcons were not in existence yet, so Washington would do a preseason tour of the southeast, and in 1961, Bristol was on their radar, as Hayes reports.
“Back in those days, [Washington was] the only team really serving the Southeast,” said Sam Horner, who played for the team in ’61. “Our exhibition games usually started in Jacksonville and then went to Winston-Salem, Richmond and Norfolk. That year, we did go to Bristol.”
Neither team was highly touted going into the Bristol game, which might help explain the low attendance. That, coupled with football not being quite the thrill to most people that it is known as today.
According to Hayes, the field conditions were fairly bad as well. There were reportedly some holes in the field, but Hayes says that the players and coaches didn’t complain about it, because they just wanted to play.
Perhaps one part that we can be assured won’t be seen again, was the scene at halftime:
Since there was only one bathroom to accommodate the players, both teams spent the intermission at one end of the field relieving themselves and having a cigarette.
Despite the first football game at BMS not being a success, I think it’s safe to say we can expect otherwise this time around.
[Bristol Herald Courier/Photo: BMS]
