Aug 6, 2026 · 30m · masters-of-scale
How the Savannah Bananas built a brand people love
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In this episode of Masters of Scale, host Jeff Berman interviews Savannah Bananas founder Jesse Cole on how he disrupted professional sports by creating Banana Ball, building a fan-first culture, and scaling an entertainment empire driven by pure joy.
Statements from this episode (15)
Cole: Savannah Bananas sold out Fenway Park to 37,000 fans
“Took the show on the road. And was able to sell out Fenway Park with 37,000 vans and everyone singing yellow and lighting up the sky.”
Cole: Gastonia Grizzlies had only $268 in bank after losing $100K
“There was 268 dollars in the bank account when we started, and there was no money. The team had lost over a 100,000 dollars the previous year.”
Cole: Bananas use SNL-style weekly table reads to script baseball games
“We've developed kind of a system on how we generate our best ideas. You know, we follow a Saturday Night Live model and we generate ideas on a Tuesday all day idea sessions. Then we have a table read and we start doing rehearsals and we go through all that to …”
Cole: Sports franchises should control the entertainment rules, not just game outcomes
“There's the conventional world of sports, which we play a little bit in that world, but we can't control whether your team wins or loses. Right. But what we can control is the show. And if we build the rules, we make the rules of the game, we make the rules of…”
Jesse Cole: First Banana Ball game finished nine innings in 99 minutes
“We played nine innings in 99 minutes, and the players said it was the most fun they ever had played”
Savannah Bananas sold out every 4,000-seat college summer baseball game
“In College Summer Baseball, we were selling out every night, 4000 seats.”
Savannah Bananas sold only two tickets in their first three months
“Now this is after only selling two tickets in our first three months.”
Jesse Cole: Over $1M in debt during early Bananas launch
“We were a million dollars plus in debt. We just got married. We have to go on. There's no other option.”
Cole: Savannah Bananas Spend Zero Dollars on Marketing
“Well, we spent zero dollars on marketing. We invest in the experience.”
Cole: The Party Animals have more TikTok followers than any MLB team
“So like the party animals, which people don't realize they have more followers than every major league baseball team on TikTok.”
Cole: 170,000 people joined the waitlist for Party Animals in Detroit
“Like, 170,000 people joined the list to go see them in Detroit.”
Cole: Bananas cap tickets at $60 with no fees or taxes
“The average ticket price in the secondary market is over 200 dollars. For us, it's 40, 50, and 60 dollars with no ticket fees, no convenience fees, we pay your taxes.”
Cole: Bananas are investing $13M in free YouTube broadcasts this year
“Our broadcast, we invest thirteen million dollars this year, which we're not getting that. Like, it's free on YouTube.”
Cole: Bananas employ 16 full-time truck drivers across 75 stadiums
“We have 16 full-time truck drivers that are driving our trucks around the country with all of our equipment and merchandise. We didn't know how to do A trucking logistics company, but we have to now because we're in 75 stadiums, all in 45 states, and soon we'l…”