Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
An arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. It seats a stated 21,678. This page collects the address, the access and the capacity figures an organizer needs before a site visit.
- Stated capacity
- 21,678
- people, as published
- Opened
- 1987
- 39 years old
- From TYS
- 17 km (11 mi)
- McGhee Tyson Airport
- From the centre
- 1.1 km (0.7 mi)
- of Knoxville
Figures as published in open data, retrieved 3 September 2026. Capacities vary by layout — confirm the one you want with the venue.
The building
It sits in Knoxville, right in the centre of Knoxville.
Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center was opened in 1987, which puts it at 39 years old.
A stated 21,678 puts this in arena territory: general sessions and keynotes fit, breakouts need somewhere else.
- Official site
- www.tbarena.com
- Coordinates
- 35.9512, -83.9250
- Classified as
- arena
Access and arrival
Allow half an hour each way to McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), 17 km (11 mi) away, and rather more if your first session starts during the morning peak.
It is central, so a hotel block within walking distance is realistic and you can skip a shuttle entirely.
Knoxville has 33 venues mapped in total and a population of 198,722. The Knoxville guide covers the airport, the local time zone and what else is bookable nearby.
The kind of event it takes
A room this size is a plenary and nothing else. Keynotes, awards and general sessions work; the breakouts, the exhibition and the catering all have to happen somewhere else, so the venue is really the anchor of a campus rather than the whole event.
- award ceremonies
A stage, a bowl of seats and a control room already in place.
- festivals
An audience of 21,678 is festival scale, not conference scale.
- company all-hands
One room, everybody in it, nobody watching on a screen in an overflow space.
The app bill, at this size
Take 950 people through the door in Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center — sized to the stated capacity of Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. The first 50 activated attendees are free on every event, so only the rest are billed, and the total stops moving at 1,000 however many more turn up.
- activated attendees
- 950activated attendees
- billable, after the first 50 are free
- 900billable, after the first 50 are free
- for the whole event, at $5 each
- $4,500for the whole event, at $5 each
You are billed for people, not for the room, so this figure does not change if you move the event down the road. event67 has no floor-plan or booking product — the venue handles the space, the app handles the people in it.
Other rooms in Knoxville
4 other venues in Knoxville have enough published detail for their own guide. Worth a shortlist before you commit.
- Neyland Stadium102,455 seats
- Knoxville Civic Coliseum7,141 seats
- Regal Soccer Stadium3,000 seats
- Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium3,000 seats
Where these numbers come from
event67 is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to this venue or its operator. This page is compiled from open data and links to the venue’s own website where one is published.
- Wikidata, CC0
- Venue data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.
- Geographic data © GeoNames, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Retrieved 3 September 2026. 7 distinct facts from the record are rendered on this page: stated capacity, capacity sizing, year opened, official website, encyclopaedia entry, nearest airport with distance, photograph on Wikimedia Commons.
Last updated
What it costs
- Free up to 50
- activated attendees, on one live event
- $5
- per activated attendee beyond 50
- $4,750
- the most one event can ever cost, whatever happens past 1,000
Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
Questions people actually ask
How many people does Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center hold?
Open data records a stated capacity of 21,678 for Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. That figure is what the venue or an encyclopaedia entry published, and it is usually the maximum seated number — theatre, banquet and reception layouts in the same room can differ by half. Confirm the layout you want directly with the venue.
What does an event app cost for an event at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center?
950 activated attendees means 900 billable after the free 50, so $4,500 for the event. That example is sized to the stated capacity of Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. The rate is $5 per activated attendee beyond the first 50, and the total for one event stops at $4,750 however many more attend. Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
Is event67 affiliated with Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center?
No. event67 is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to this venue or its operator. This page is compiled from open data — OpenStreetMap, Wikidata and public census sources — and links to the venue’s own website where one is published.
What else is nearby if Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center is booked?
Neyland Stadium (102,455), Knoxville Civic Coliseum (7,141) and Regal Soccer Stadium (3,000) are in the same city and have their own pages here. 33 venues in total are mapped in Knoxville.
Keep reading
Elsewhere in Knoxville
- Neyland Stadium
102,455 seats
- Knoxville Civic Coliseum
7,141 seats
- Regal Soccer Stadium
3,000 seats
- Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium
3,000 seats
- Hosting an event in Knoxville
Up a level
What kind of event is it
Running an event at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food?
Bring the schedule, the invites and the arrivals into one branded app. Free for your first 50 activated attendees, on one live event.