The MLB Speedway Classic was first announced nearly a year ago as part of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s push to take MLB to places where baseball isn’t played every day live. MLB played a game at the movie site in Iowa in both 2021 and 2022. Alabama, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, too.

College basketball took to the sea as part of the "Carrier Classic" series, with the Tar Heels and the Spartans playing aboard the USS Carl Vinson, an active aircraft carrier in San Diego on Veterans Day in 2011. Players adjusted to unique conditions, including glare from the sun and wind on the open court that sat on top of the ship's flight deck.