The Savannah Bananas are the best story in sports.
Their owner went $1.8 million in debt to build the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball — and it's working.
The team now makes $200,000 per home game and is about to embark on a 70-game tour across 22 states.
Here's the story 👇
1) First, some history.
Jesse Cole grew up in Massachusetts and went on to play baseball at Wofford College in South Carolina.
He was a good pitcher — but he tore up his throwing shoulder, and his career ended during his senior year.
This is when things got interesting.
2) Jesse accepted an offer to become the General Manager of the Gastonia Grizzlies after college.
Of course, everyone thought he was crazy.
The summer league team had just $268 in their bank account and averaged an abysmal 200 fans per game.
But Jesse had a plan.
3) Jesse had a passion for theatre and performance, and he believed everyone was missing the point:
“We’re not in the baseball business; we’re in the entertainment business.”
So Jesse drew inspiration from entertainers like P.T. Barnum & Walt Disney — and then he got to work.
4) Jesse rolled out a slew of unique promos.
• Fans paid to throw pitches
• Players danced between innings
• Grandma beauty pageants became routine
And here's the craziest part:
It worked — average attendance increased from 200 fans to 2,000 & the team started making money.
5) Jesse and his wife Emily then decided to take their fan-first approach to the next level.
They moved to Savannah, Georgia, signed a $20,000-per-year stadium lease, and convinced the Coastal Plains League to award them an expansion team.
And the Savannah Bananas were born.
6) But building a team from the ground up was expensive.
So Jesse and his wife sold their house and emptied their savings.
They moved into a garage-turned-studio apartment and slept on an air mattress to make ends meet.
And they went from $0 in debt to $1.8 million in debt.
7) Still, even with mounting debt and only 2 season tickets sold in 2 months, Jesse Cole stuck to the plan.
He let fans pick the team's name. He removed all stadium advertising & priced tickets at just $20 (which included food & drinks).
The stadium was now named "Bananaland."
8) The Savannah Bananas got off to a hot start.
Cole wore his famous yellow tux & fedora, and their first game drew a sellout crowd of 4,000 fans.
There was a pep band & choreographed dances — and 10,000 people joined the waitlist for tickets.
But that was just the beginning.
9) Jesse Cole noticed that fans were enjoying the game, but many still decided to leave early.
So he introduced a new set of rules called Banana Ball:
• 2-hour time limit
• No walks
• No bunting
• Players can steal 1st base
His sole goal was to increase fan entertainment.
10) These new rules sent an already popular Savannah Bananas team into another stratosphere.
Their mid-game dances went viral on TikTok & they gained 5 million followers on social media.
ESPN produced a documentary on the team & 98% of fans now stay until the end of each game.
11) And the Savannah Bananas have been able to financially capitalize on this success.
They make ~$200,000 during each game, and they have a six-figure online merch business.
They sell out stadiums across the country, and they'll now embark on a 70-game tour across 22 states.
12) Ultimately, I love this story for one reason:
Jesse Cole broke all of baseball's unwritten rules & ruthlessly focused on one thing: the customer.
That enabled him to build something truly special, and it's why the Savannah Bananas are now the most viral sensation in sports.
13) If you enjoyed this thread, you should:
1. Follow me; I tweet cool stories like this every day.
2. Join 88,000+ others and subscribe to my free newsletter, where I break down the business and money behind sports.
huddleup.substack.com
13) If you enjoyed this thread, you should:
1. Follow me; I tweet cool stories like this every day.
2. Join 88,000+ others and subscribe to my free newsletter, where I break down the business and money behind sports.
huddleup.substack.com
14) And if you want to learn more about the Savannah Bananas, I also released an 18-minute documentary on YouTube breaking down the entire story.
Enjoy:
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