After Year Wait, Blue Wahoos Stadium Revved For Unique Nitro Circus Event 

Early in his business career, Jonathan Griffith spent time with extreme sports, working as part of the Gravity Games held in Providence, Rhode Island.

“I thought it was just the coolest thing, ever,” said Griffith, the Blue Wahoos team president, looking back at the former event two decades ago on NBC Sports, which featured skateboarding, BMX freestyle competition and motocross in the summer.

He now has the same prediction for how spectators will react Thursday night at 7 p.m. when Blue Wahoos Stadium hosts the Nitro Circus tour with similar action sports stunts by world renown competitors.

It will be another first in stadium history as a one-of-kind experience.

“It’s going to be fantastic,” Griffith said. “I can tell you this, my two (young) kids knew about this and when they found out it was coming here, they were like, ‘We’re going.’

“And their interest is because they have never seen anything like it, except on TV. So, to actually see that in Pensacola, and see the tricks these guys do, is incredible for our community.”

At a venue that has often transformed in ways which include University of West Florida football – and that is happening on Saturday – movie nights, target golf, cross-fit training tournament, an Airbnb in the home team clubhouse, along with events like last Saturday’s First City Art Pumpkin Patch, this may be the most unique.

Performance motorbikes will be making leaps and loops onto inflatable landing areas on a field covered with a special layer to protect the turf.

“It is something you are not going to see anywhere else,” said Dan Glowinski, director of operations for Indigo Road Entertainment in Michigan, which promotes the Nitro Circus on its coast-to-coast tour. “These athletes are the best in the world at what they do.

“They have been doing tricks that people have never done before. And when held in venues like minor baseball stadiums, you are really up close to everything.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, only a limited number of tickets remain. The presale has been one of the largest in history for any event at the ballpark.

The Nitro Circus is coming from Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, where the group last performed. Following Thursday’s event in Pensacola, the Nitro Circus is then heading to Nashville for a Friday show and Des Moines, Iowa for the weekend.

“This just meets our mission and gives people something that you would normally have to go to a big city like Atlanta, Nashville, or somewhere else to see,” Griffith said. “And the fact we are actually able to do this here is a great thing our community.”

The Nitro Circus was co-founded in 2003 by Travis Pastrana, the legendary motorsports and stunt performer who became a world star on ESPN’s X-Games competition.

The tour was set to stop in Pensacola in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the season schedule.

“We have been talking about doing this for a couple of years,” said Shannon Reeves, the Blue Wahoos events manager. “It is something we wanted to bring here. I think it will serve well here at our stadium.

“When I first watched a video with the motorcycles, the fire and all the things happening, I thought there was no way we can do this here. But obviously we don’t think that way anymore. We are just so much more of a year-round events venue.”

With favorable weather, the event will begin with a sunset across Pensacola Bay and have the bayfront as the backdrop for all the varied stunts the Nitro Circus performs. There will be two different shows, each an hour in length, with a 30-minute intermission planned.

It be the motorbikes along with skateboard stunts being performed.

“The backdrop is going to be impressive,” Glowinski said. “It might be one of the best ones we’ve ever had. Each of the hours is non-stop action on the ramps.”

The Nitro Circus crew will then clear its stage and all of the ramps and inflatable landing areas by early morning Friday to travel to Nashville. It will allow ample time for the field to be returned to a football setup for UWF’s homecoming game against West Georgia on Saturday afternoon.

“We want to bring these kind of events here,” Griffith said. “In this case, everything just worked out as far as the timing, the location of where they were heading and how it all fitted together.

“It’s going to be awesome.”

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Nitro Circus 2021 Tour

WHO: Stunt and competition athletes in FMX, BMX motorbikes, skateboard and scooter.

WHEN: Thursday, first show at 7 p.m. Gates open (general seating) at 6 p.m.

WHERE: Blue Wahoos Stadium,

TICKETS: Limited number of grandstand general admission tickets at $49 apiece. Special Hancock Whitney Club level tickets remain at $104 apiece and include dinner buffet of various courses prepared by Blue Wahoos chef Travis Wilson, along with communication and questions for performance athletes at 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 through video outlet. And a preshow at 5:30.

VIP and HWC ticket holders admitted at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE TO BUY: Blue Wahoos Stadium box office, or online at www.bluewahoos.com