Smokies test their first weekday afternoon game in 2026. How'd it go?
The Knoxville Smokies are testing weekday afternoon games, drawing downtown professionals and business leaders to Covenant Health Park.
A local business leader stopped by the Michelob Ultra Backstop Bar before the first pitch April 8 and handed over his card, starting a tab for himself and the employees he brought out for the Knoxville Smokies' first weekday afternoon game at Covenant Health Park. The Wednesday afternoon start for Seiya Suzuki was expected to be his last in a Smokies uniform before the Japanese-born outfielder fully rehabs the knee he injured in the World Baseball Classic and returns to the Chicago Cubs. The chance to see an MLB player in action − and the novelty of a weekday game played in full sunshine − helped draw a respectable crowd to the stadium April 8 that came close to a typical Wednesday night attendance.
Downtown 'after-work crowd' steps away for Smokies game Amanda Ayers Moore, business and HR manager for Professional Sports Catering at Covenant Health Park, gets projected attendance numbers before games and plans accordingly when it comes time to staff the stadium's "four major concession stands , three bars and two kitchens. " Moore oversees 163 hourly employees − and keeps Knoxville's People Ready temp service on standby. For Wednesday's game, she ended up staffing 55 employees.
Six salaried managers also were present, including Moore, who experienced her first weekday afternoon game at Covenant Health Park alongside fans. "I love it because I come in at 9 o'clock regardless no matter what," she told Knox News, half-jokingly. "But I think it's great because it gives people something to do during the daytime.
" Smokies owner Randy Boyd told Knox News years before the new Old City stadium opened the team's move from Kodak would likely change the demographic of fans who show up to games. Young professionals, he said, and those who live, work and spend time downtown would be important repeat customers for Covenant Health Park. "There was a man over there," Moore said at Wednesday's game, "and he was in business because he said he had to go back to work after this.
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