MoxCar crew tours stadium in progress

MoxCar’s Maria Cornelius, Haley Arni and Perla Ortega gather for a tour team photo on the concourse.

A trio from MoxCar Marketing + Communications donned hard hats and safety vests in the searing July summer heat to traverse all across the new stadium construction site – and loved every second of it.

Maria Cornelius, the writer of this blog post and senior writer/editor at MoxCar; Haley Arni, account associate and photographer; and Perla Ortega, a summer intern for MoxCar through the Knoxville Sports Authority, met Moe Abbas, a senior project manager for Denark Construction, which is building the multi-use stadium in East Knoxville on the edge of the Old City and downtown.

Abbas, who probably spends close to 4,000 hours a year on-site, oversees construction and has a major role in keeping the calendar on track. All indicators are that the stadium will be ready for opening day of Knoxville Smokies baseball in April 2025.

He also handles tours of the site, especially media, and accompanied MoxCar around the inner rooms of the stadium, through the concourse, into the seats and onto the field. MoxCar has served as a public relations and communications firm for Boyd Sports since the project started.

The following photos – mostly taken by Arni with Ortega and Cornelius chipping in, too – show the progress as of July 17, 2024. Let’s play ball.

Maria Cornelius, with her bat and ball, and Moe Abbas head to the stadium.

Perla Ortega stands at the main entrance to the stadium, featuring a grand staircase. The new stadium will have four entrances.

Moe Abbas, Maria Cornelius and Perla Ortega enter the stadium area that will provide offices and locker rooms.

Maria Cornelius sits on the edge of the home dugout.

A crew works on the retractable pitcher’s mound, which will make it easy to convert the field for a soccer match.

Maria Cornelius takes the first recorded swing at the new stadium.

A ball from the current stadium and bat mark the location of home plate.

View from home dugout down the first base line.

Our crew moves to the concourse and then up to suites.

Suites area
Haley Arni takes a photo of a room that will hold 300 people on the suites level for a group event with great views of field.

The media and radio areas.

Radio broadcast room. Two rooms are available for home and visiting team broadcast crews.

Suite holders will have indoor views and and outside seating.

View from suites down the first base line and right field with downtown Knoxville in background.

View from suite level of apartments beyond left and center fields under construction. The wall in front of the building on the right will be the bullpens for both teams. The concourse will wrap around the stadium behind the wall.

Back down we go from the concourse to seating.

Maria Cornelius sits in what will be her season ticket seat. She didn’t want to leave the stadium.
Perla Ortega takes a selfie from center field.

Haley Arni and Maria Cornelius arrange the bat and ball photo.

Success.

MoxCar’s Haley Arni, Maria Cornelius and Perla Ortega position themselves in center field in July 2024 at the stadium construction site.

Maria Cornelius still didn’t want to leave so she twirled around the outfield.

Crews work around the ramp that will allow fans in wheelchairs or who need mobility assistance to reach their seats from the ground-floor level. The elevator to the upper levels also is at left.

The strength and conditioning room for the players is taking shape.

Moe Abbas and Maria Cornelius take in a beautiful day at the ballpark.

Current season ticket holders can place a deposit on their seats now. Season tickets will be available starting Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. for the public. The information is HERE.

See you at the ballpark in 2025.