More Bad News For Smokies’ Fans

A bill aimed at helping to pay for a proposed downtown stadium and entertainment complex in Knoxville will now head to the governor�s desk….after passed the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday… That bill is designed to keep new taxes from the area around the proposed stadium and put it toward the debt of building….that stadium would house the Tennessee Smokies baseball team currently housed in Sevier County at Smokies Stadium in Kodak off exit 407 on I-40. he new stadium in Knoxville estimated to cost $65 million from public money and another $100 million from private investment. and is expected to be completed within the next two years. The bill passing the senate yesterday was aimed primarily at the Knoxville bid to move the Smokies…as…it allows for “a sports authority to keep new revenue that happens within a quarter mile of the center of the stadium. It has to be a stadium for minor or major league baseball and it has to be up and running before the end of 2025.”