Boyd Sports and Covenant Health celebrated the naming of Covenant Health Park and shared new logos and renderings on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. The event was flawlessly executed by MoxCar Marketing + Communications with good sound, short speeches and free water.
Covenant Health signed a 20-year naming contract for the multi-use stadium which will be home to the Boyd-owned Smokies baseball team. Jim VanderSteeg, president/CEO of Covenant Health, said the partnership is a good fit. “We both share a commitment to excellence, a commitment to teamwork and a commitment to East Tennessee.”
Randy Boyd welcomes Covenant Health partnership
Randy Boyd said construction is ahead of schedule and opening day will be April 15, 2025. The Tennessee Smokies, now based in Kodak (Sevier County), will become the Knoxville Smokies.
In addition to the Smokies, a double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, Boyd Sports owns or operates four summer collegiate baseball teams: Johnson City Doughboys, Greeneville Flyboys, Kingsport Axmen and Elizabethton River Riders.
Boyd said the $300 million investment at Covenant Health Park will be an economic driver for the area with 9-story condos already scheduled to be built on the west side.
Boyd cited Fort Wayne, Indiana, as an example of a winning public-private collaboration. The cities are similar. Fort Wayne had a 2020 population of 263,886; while Knoxville’s population was 190,740.
Parkview Field in Fort Wayne is named for Parkview Health, a not-for-profit, community-based health system serving a northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio population of more than 1.3 million. With more than 15,000 co-workers, it is the region’s largest employer.
The baseball team is the Fort Wayne TinCaps, a high-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. Learn more about the economic impact here. TinCaps, by the way, is a salute to Johnny Appleseed who planted orchards in the area and died in Fort Wayne in 1845.
