With six months until engines fire, excitement is building in downtown Baltimore. One of two new locations scheduled to host a Monster Energy Supercross race in 2027, M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the Ravens, prepares to turn its massive footprint over to track and venue designers for what will be the third new football stadium in the Northeast in the past three years.
Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh hosted its first race in 2025. Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland welcomed the dirt bike stars for the first time this year. Pittsburgh returns to the schedule for its second race in 2027. Cleveland will likely go into the same type of rotation with races every two to three years.
What makes Baltimore unique is the fact that this city has never hosted a premiere supercross race; Washington, DC, hosted a race more than 40 years ago, and the ground has lain fallow ever since.
“For us at Visit Baltimore, one thing that we always know is we get excited about new events happening in our city, but also because the number of people that will come and travel here are usually either visiting family or friends coming for an event, but they usually come back,” Kireem Swinton, President and CEO of Visit Baltimore, said when the 2027 regular season SuperMotocross schedule was released. “So that’s really our goal. And having something like this here, we learned that 49,000 fans will be here—possibly more, right?—89% of those people will not live in the city, which means we have an opportunity to showcase what Baltimore is really about. Get people to explore the city, the neighborhoods that they’re in, great dining, which we know we all have.”
There is something special about a new sports market. Stick and ball sports must show patience before a new city is christened either through expansion of when a team is enticed away by a better offer. NASCAR and IndyCar are mostly reliant on permanent facilities. With the ability to build tracks in less that a week’s time, the SuperMotocross League has greater flexibility.
The flexibility of the schedule allows new venues the opportunity to showcase their strengths.
“A special welcome on behalf of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore,” said Shelonda Stokes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. “I thank you for my Baltimore. We want you to be here. We want you to be excited about being here. We see all of those dates [on the schedule], but I’m telling you Baltimore is a challenger and we want to make sure that people feel it.”
As the old saying goes, the stomach if the key to a person’s heart, and according to Stokes, the heart of Baltimore lies in its restaurants and attractions. Picking a favorite one is like attempting to pick a favorite child, but with hundreds of restaurants, brewpubs, and various other eateries, SuperMotocross fans won’t have to travel far from the stadium.
The three new Northeastern markets have developed a fierce rivalry for the heart and minds of NFL fans.
Established in 1996, the Ravens are the new kids on the block. The Pittsburgh Steelers joined the NFL in 1933 while using the same name as its baseball team, the Pirates, before undergoing an identity change in 1940. The Cleveland Browns joined the league in 1950 several years after first playing in the All-America Football Conference.
“We’re competitive on the field; we’re going to be competitive on the track,” Richard Tamayo, Senior VP of Stadium Operations and Guest Experience, Baltimore Ravens, told NBC Sports. “We definitely want to be the best of all the stops, not just those three cities, but the rest of the stops on the tour.”
The addition of Supercross is one part of the long term vision of the stadium. During the past three years, the Ravens have spent more than $475 million in order to attract non-football events to the stadium.
“My favorite part is the fan friendly part,” Tamayo said. “We’re bringing this to Baltimore because we want a fan friendly environment here, and that is what this group is all about. As we talk about the exciting things that are happening, this is really what we get to contact us about is, ‘Hey, why don’t you bring these type of events to Baltimore?’ ”
Tamayo will get his wish April 9, 2027, with the addition of FanFest to the adjacent parking lots: “Real exciting, so on behalf of the Baltimore Ravens and MT Banks Stadium, welcome to Baltimore.”
