Smokies stadium design champions Knoxville at Covenant Health Park
The Rev. Renee Kesler on importance of Black history at Covenant Health Park
The Rev. Renee Kesler speaks about the late Bob Booker and the importance of Black history at Covenant Health Park, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
- Two local firms, Design Innovation Architects and BarberMcMurray, joined forces to design Covenant Health Park with community in mind.
- Seemingly small details like brick and roofing materials contribute to the stadium’s overall feeling, designers said.
- By creating a space that will be “activated almost 24/7,” the design teams pulled off a stadium that is setting a new standard.
Every design choice in Covenant Health Park, like the color of the seats where fans will watch the Knoxville Smokies or One Knoxville SC play, came after hours of deliberation between designers and architects.
In the case of the seats, the team decided between 12 samples, said interior designer Aimee Yarbrough.
“The original intent had been that they would be green to reminisce the Cubs’ Wrigley Field, because (the Smokies) are affiliated with the Cubs,” Yarbrough, director of interior design at Design Innovation Architects, told Knox News. “Ultimately, when everybody got together, we felt like the gray was the better choice for this stadium.”
The design for the multiuse stadium in Old City largely came together over three days in 2019, as designers and architects met with investors and Knoxville Smokies team owner Randy Boyd for a massive brainstorming session at the Design Innovation Architects office on Gay Street.
Designers turned hand-sketched renderings from the meeting into full concepts a week later, and the finished product doesn’t stray far from the original plan.
Design Innovation Architects formed a 50/50 joint venture with Knoxville’s BarberMcMurray Architects named GEM Associated Architects after the Gem Theater, the main movie theater for the city’s Black community before integration. The theater, like so many other touchstones of East Knoxville, was demolished during the period of urban removal.
The local designers wanted the new stadium, which opens April 15, to fit the character of the Old City neighborhood while revitalizing a once-vibrant part of Knoxville.
“I’m just excited about how it sits within the urban fabric that’s already there,” Scott Falvey, director of historical preservation at Design Innovation Architects, told Knox News. “I want people to feel good about crossing a little bit further into East Knoxville and seeing that part of town develop and seeing an opportunity out there beyond the stadium.”
Boyd selected Populous, a leading international design firm with expertise in baseball stadiums, to consult GEM Associated Architects through the entire process. The Populous project team is already using it as an example for other cities, said Kelly Headden, chief operating officer at BarberMcMurray.
“This stadium will probably set a new standard for what minor league stadiums become in the U.S.,” Headden told Knox News. “It’s not just a ballpark with development around it. The development is integral to the ballpark and defining the left and right field line, the outfields. It’s critical to the overall performance and how it transforms a community,”
Beyond its multiuse nature, here are five elements of the stadium’s design that make it a new standard.
Stadium color palette is smoky – not blue and red
The Smokies, a Double-A affiliate of the Cubs, wear blue and red. But the stadium’s designers looked elsewhere for the color palette of the structure itself.
“The Smoky Mountains were an inspiration for the palette,” Yarbrough said. “We wanted to not fully focus on the team colors.”
The 130-foot-long Tennessee-shaped scoreboard includes the team’s colors, which can also be found in the locker room and on two bear mascots, Knox and Jackson. Fans can also buy plenty of blue and red team merchandise.
A gray palette helps the stadium blend in with its surroundings and pay homage to the Smoky Mountains. Signs around the stadium feature mountain motifs and the various angles of the roof come together to form a mountainous scene around the venue.
Finding the exact right brick for Old City stadium
One particular building material had to be exactly right for the stadium to complement the historic Old City: its brick.
“I can’t tell you how many brick submittals and color submittals we went through, going through that with Randy (Boyd) just to make sure that that we got the exact right stuff that fit in with the rest of the community,” Headden said.
Choosing the right brick meant designers sometimes stood on Old City streets with different piles of brick to compare them with the neighborhood’s other buildings, Yarbrough said.
“I think it’s going to feel so vibrant and fun,” she said.
No new parking for stadium was intentional
Covenant Health Park will have 1,100 dedicated parking spaces once the city converts the Old City North and South Lots to reserved parking on game days, but none of them are new. Designers wanted to utilize existing parking and encourage people to spend time in other downtown spaces.
“The urban designers were insistent that there not be significant parking associated with the stadium,” Headden said. “You really want people to park and walk through your town and walk by mom and pop restaurants and retail.”
There are 15,000 parking spots within a 20-minute walk of the stadium and 7,000 spots within a 10-minute walk of the stadium, Headden said. The stadium has 6,355 seats.
Knoxville Area Transit will provide free shuttle service for ticketholders on game days from four downtown garages:
- Langley Garage
- Locust Street Garage
- Market Square Garage
- Summer Place Garage
Yellow pine roof adds warmth to stadium
Crews installed 45,674 square feet of yellow pine roofing to the stadium in just 13 work days, according to data shared with Knox News by construction manager Denark.
The unique pine came from Alabama and saved 15 tons of steel. It also captures carbon emissions, provides insulation and allowed designers not to build ceilings in several places.
“It adds a warmth and character,” Headden said. “It’s really a very sustainable, green product and gives a wonderful, nice feeling to the spaces there.”
The pine roof structure was part of the design from the beginning, and it ended up being 15% cheaper than the steel alternative. Though it’s a new concept for construction projects in Knoxville, the stadium design team believes wood roofing will become more common.
Retractable mound, 360 concourse are feats of engineering
From their earliest conversations about the stadium, local designers and engineers wanted a space residents could use every day, including those living in condos and apartments overlooking the field.
To make the stadium work for soccer games and concerts, the design factored in a retractable pitcher’s mound, one of only a handful in the nation.
“It’s not obvious to anyone that doesn’t know that’s what it is, but it was another step in making sure this facility is adaptable for soccer and concerts and other events,” Yarbrough said. “The entire development gets activated almost 24/7.”
Knoxville residents can enjoy another unique feature beginning April 15: a 360-degree concourse making the perimeter of the stadium walkable. The concourse is an even more special achievement considering crews preserved First Creek, which runs through the site’s footprint.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Email: [email protected]. Signal: @danieldassow.24.
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