Tennessee Smokies
- Location: Kodak, TN
- League: Southern League 2000-2019; Double-A South 2021; Southern League 2022-
- Affiliation: Toronto Blue Jays 2000-2002; St. Louis Cardinals 2003-2004; Arizona Diamondbacks 2005-2006; Chicago Cubs 2007-present
- Ballpark: Smokies Stadium
Team History[edit]
The Tennessee Smokies, of the Double-A Southern League and briefly in Double-A South, will soon be formerly of Sevier County and again known as the Knoxville Smokies. The Chicago Cubs farmhands play their home games at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, TN.
Smokies owner Randy Boyd, who bought the club from its then-parent Toronto Blue Jays in 2013, is returning the team to Knoxville from the ring county.
In 2021, the state budgeted more than $13 million toward a proposed new municipally owned stadium. The city council then created a sports authority to oversee it and later approved a preliminary stadium plan. At the outset, Boyd had hoped to have the stadium ready for the 2023 season but said at the time that was very ambitious. In July 2021, he pushed it to 2024. However, citing volatility in global supply chains, the Smokies announced in April 2022 that they will play the 2024 campaign in Kodak - conveniently, the last season of the current stadium lease.
The project moved from possible to near-certainty with three key mid-November 2021 votes as the sports authority, the Knox County Commission and Knoxville City Council all, in turn, approved the funding plan. Short of actually breaking ground, the last crucial task happened on May 24, 2023: the sale of $65 million in municipal bonds.
The city and Boyd have agreed that the lease for the team to use the 7,000-seat stadium will require "Knoxville" to be in the team name.
Knoxville hosted many professional baseball teams from 1897 through 1999. Although the Smokies revived their four-decade nickname with their 2000 move to Kodak, they remained in the Blue Jays' system another two seasons. When the K-Jays were planning their move into Sevier County, then-Assistant General Manager Brian Cox said "Tennessee" would refer not to the state but to the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. The Smokies affiliated with the Cubs after the 2006 campaign, starting a long partnership after changing parents in consecutive two-season affiliation cycles: St. Louis Cardinals 2003-2004 and Arizona Diamondbacks 2005-2006.
Year-by-Year Record[edit]
* Due to Hurricane Ivan the finals series was canceled. Tennessee and Mobile were declared co-champions.
Related Sites[edit]
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