Neyland Stadium will host baseball for the first time since 1921 when the Savannah Bananas take the field this weekend, University of Tennessee official Alisha Longworth said, part of a two‑game stop in Knoxville that opens May 21 and closes May 23.
The Bananas play May 21 at Covenant Health Park and then move to Neyland Stadium for a May 23 game that Longworth said is expected to draw roughly 100,000 people Saturday night. “When you put 100,000 people in Neyland Stadium, the economic impact for the entire city is great,” Longworth said. “It’s good for the local community. It’s good for hotels. It’s good for restaurants.”
Longworth said planning for the event began over a year ago and that Visit Knoxville “was really the one kind of wrangling those conversations, brought them to the table.” She described the Bananas’ appearance as part of the team's football stadium tour. “The bananas decided they wanted to go on a football stadium tour, and Neyland being Neyland was, of course, on a list,” she said.
The university expects many out‑of‑town visitors for the games and has ramped up preparations accordingly. Grounds crews have spent more than three weeks transforming the football field into a baseball diamond, and the campus will have additional staff Saturday to help with directions and customer service. Longworth said, “Our grounds crew has been very busy for the last three plus weeks.”
The Bananas dates, combined with a recent Luke Combs concert, have also given the university a chance to trial traffic and crowd plans before football season. “These two events have given us unique opportunities that we are putting 100,000 people in our football stadium, so we can test some things out,” Longworth said. The university began a traffic study last fall with Visit Knoxville, KPD, UTPD and other partners to inform those tests.
Organizers are routing fans who have not pre‑purchased parking toward Park and Ride shuttles from the Civic Coliseum or Market Square area. Shuttles from the Coliseum cost $25 round trip, and the Ag Campus may have limited parking available, the university said. Longworth urged downtown parking: “If you haven’t pre‑purchased parking, I would highly encourage the downtown area to park,” she said.
There is a scheduling wrinkle on the weekend: Tennessee softball may play at 11 a.m. Saturday if the team advances in the Super Regionals, a possibility university officials have acknowledged as they finalize logistics. The university will use the same safety protocols it follows on football game days, and Longworth dismissed concerns about field conversion and future fall games. “Absolutely no worries,” she said. “They have nothing to worry about. We will be ready for kickoff in the fall.”
The savannah bananas schedule — two games in Knoxville, May 21 at Covenant Health Park and May 23 at Neyland Stadium — will be watched for more than entertainment: city officials and university planners will treat the weekend as a live rehearsal for managing large crowds and the economic effects Longworth referenced. The practical tests of traffic flows, staffing and parking will shape how the university handles the much larger cadence of football season later this year.
For fans, the immediate next steps are straightforward: attend the May 21 game at Covenant Health Park or the May 23 event at Neyland, consider Park and Ride shuttles if parking wasn’t purchased in advance, and expect extra university staff on campus Saturday to help with directions and customer service.
