Vols-Virginia Tech To Play in Bristol, 2016

Virginia Tech and Tennessee are finally going to go at it in a regular-season football game and could very draw the largest live crowd in the sport's history.

They have signed an agreement to play in Bristol's 160,000-capacity Bristol Motor Speedway (which could possibly expand to as many as 200,000) in 2016, a game that has been imagined for some time. The Vols, who have been down for the past four years, are eager for something sexy to come their way and Virginia Tech's program--which is ahead of Tennessee's right now--is that something. In 2005, Bruton Smith of the track, offered $20 million for the game, but it was nixed by UT then.

For 2016, Tennessee adds this game against an always Top 20 program on top of another non-conference heavyweight--Nebraska--in addition to a killer eight SEC league games, creating--again--one of the toughest schedules in the country.

The teams played in the 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl (won by Tech). CBS Sports first reported this, then the Washington Post blogged about it (here).