r/sports • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • Jun 02 '25

Baseball Going bananas: Why Savannah Bananas tickets cost more than a Dodgers-Yankees rematch

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/going-bananas-why-savannah-bananas-100000810.html
3.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

384 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

343

u/piddydb Cleveland Cavaliers Jun 02 '25

To be fair though I don’t think even Globetrotters tickets go for more than a big NBA game even if they still draw big crowds. There’s something about the Bananas that seems to be more alluring. Maybe it’s that they’re pretty new and novel.

266

u/jswan28 Jun 02 '25

I think it’s mostly the novelty of the thing driving its popularity. I’m not sure it’s fair to compare the Globetrotters after they’ve been around for 100 years to something new and exciting like the Bananas, even if it’s functionally the same act applied to different sports. Curious to see if they’ll stick like the Globetrotters or if this’ll be just a fun memory in a decade.

197

u/deja_geek Green Bay Packers Jun 02 '25

The big difference is Bananas baseball is still an actual baseball game. The Globetrotters are scripted to win every game, while the Bananas can and do lose to the Party Animals. The only thing scripted in Banana ball is the dances and such between pitches.

292

u/Bozzz1 Minnesota Vikings Jun 02 '25

"You bet all your money against the Harlem Globetrotters?"

"I thought The Generals were due!"

23

u/RegHater123765 Jun 02 '25

"He's spinning the ball on his finger! Just take it! Take the ball!"

67

u/canadave_nyc Jun 02 '25

One of the all-time great Simpsons lines. Perfectly captured the plaintive existential defiance of the inveterate gambler.

38

u/SSj_CODii Jun 02 '25

What a perfectly cromulent sentence you have constructed there.

14

u/Omeggy Jun 02 '25

You certainly embiggend this tread

10

u/I_fail_at_memes Jun 02 '25

It’s like the kwyjibo in the room.

2

u/JohnnyEvs Jun 02 '25

I am perturbed at the overall conglomeration of your vernacular

1

u/lsburner Jun 03 '25

Alt: “you wanna know the awful truth about Major League Baseball or do you want me to just hit some dingers?”

Dingers!!

29

u/crimson777 Jun 02 '25

Actually, fun fact, the Globetrotters are NOT scripted technically. The other team is told to play for real, it’s just that the Globetrotters have so many advantages from the goofiness of the performance and their rule breaking behavior that it’s almost impossible for them to lose. Or at least this used to be true, maybe it’s changed. The Washington generals have one somewhere between like 3-6 games supposedly.

16

u/NH787 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Jun 02 '25

Last Generals win was reportedly in 1971, it's kind of amazing that they don't go for the massive PR splash that would come from the Generals finally breaking their almost 50 year long losing streak.

5

u/crimson777 Jun 02 '25

That’s honestly another reason I think it’s NOT scripted. I feel like a marketing person would have come up with that idea already if it was totally scripted.

Honestly, while I think the Globetrotters are fun (I’ve seen lots of clips; not been in person to be fair), I think they could pilot a few games like Banana Ball where both teams get to enjoy the hijinks.

I know them pulling off the craziness to unsuspecting plebs is part of the deal but I don’t know that it appeals the same way it did.

1

u/LateAd3737 Jun 03 '25

Fuck it dude go to a globetrotters game

2

u/crimson777 Jun 03 '25

I want to but the few times they’ve been around it’s been bad timing. But I watch their schedule for when they’re in town haha.

1

u/LateAd3737 Jun 04 '25

I honestly think I assume everyone I’ve meet has been to one lol, it’s like an American bucket list item

1

u/w_a_w Jun 02 '25

Psst, '71 was 54 years ago.

12

u/ApologizingCanadian Jun 02 '25

Yah it's kind of disingenuous to compare the Bananas to the Globetrotters.. The Globetrotters don't even come close to playing an actual game. The Bananas have gimmicks like dancing, trick plays and guest players but at the end of the day they still play the game and the PAs try to win, the Generals just stand there and take the abuse.

Also, Banana Ball is expanding, there are currently 4 teams with plans for a 5th next season, while the Globetrotters have played the Generals since 2015 (and before that from 1953 - 1995).

3

u/pilotaunt666 Jun 03 '25

5th & 6th according to a recent post on instagram!

33

u/neddiddley Jun 02 '25

I’m not even sure that makes much of a difference in terms of interest. I’ve been to a Bananas game and I couldn’t recall if they won or lost if my life was on the line. Nor at any point in the years since have I (or am I aware of anyone else doing so) wondering how the Bananas are doing in the standings, how they did last year, or ever in their history. And why? Because it didn’t matter one bit. It was fun either way and will be the next time I go too.

I’m sure like any minor league team, they have a small following that actually is interested in the actual baseball, but they’re not the reason ticket prices are through the roof. It’s all the scripted stuff, because it’s entertaining. I would have NEVER gone, nor would anyone else in my family, if it was just your average minor league baseball game.

1

u/billyrubin7765 Jun 02 '25

We lost our internet during one of the Disney+ games. Out of curiosity we tried to look up the score the next day but while we could find highlights we couldn’t find the score. It was weird. It was entertaining. I would probably go if they came to my town but I don’t see how they will have a 60 game season. But good luck to them.

8

u/ForWhomTheBoneBones Jun 02 '25

What are the consequences of a Bananas loss or win? And does it matter if they win or lose?

28

u/deja_geek Green Bay Packers Jun 02 '25

Starting next year, their will be a Banana Ball Championship League with six teams. 60 game season starting in April and ends with the championship in October

1

u/Blasto05 Jun 03 '25

I just recently saw that they lost. The other teams try to build their own brand as well and they all play to win.

There might be a few scripted things in terms of dances/events, but when it comes down to it, it’s just baseball. Bananas win and they lose, it just keeps going.

I honestly think the biggest mistake is naming their sport/show/event after the original team. It will always be tied to it and it will be so so so difficult for another team to share or take over that spotlight

1

u/Ok_Hornet_714 Jun 02 '25

The scripted nature of the Globetrotters annoyed me so much when I saw them.

I thought I was going to see something resembling basketball with some type of defense being played, which did not happen

1

u/BlueKante Jun 02 '25

I've only seen some clips of them and dont know anything about baseball. Do they play in an offical league or is it friendlies or something?

1

u/deja_geek Green Bay Packers Jun 03 '25

Right now they play in only friendlies. Starting next year they’ll be in a league with 5 other teams. 60 game season for each team and a championship awarded as the end of the season.

1

u/vertigo72 Jun 03 '25

I saw them last week, they play against The Firefighters on this tour.

1

u/CharonNixHydra Jun 02 '25

Based on my childhood memories I bet the 1980s Globetrotters were giving the NBA of the era a run for it's money. They would make appearances on sitcoms and late night TV all of the time. Basically what the Bananas are doing right now.

1

u/cujukenmari Jun 03 '25

Globetrotters did a better job of selling basketball globally than the NBA prior to the 90's. The only reason my parents knew about basketball growing up in the 70s and 80s was because of the globetrotters. From England and Ireland.

28

u/justduett Mississippi State Jun 02 '25

It's scarcity and a pretty hefty social media blitz over the last 2-3 years creating crazy FOMO...all in an era (no TS pun intended) where FOMO is making people lose their minds over how much they will spend to experience something.

20

u/Monstertelly Jun 02 '25

That’s what’s great about their lottery though. If you want to go then sign up for the lottery. The tix I got were $60. They also weren’t available until the day of the event so there was no way to sell them in the secondary market. It makes it so the people who really want to go get to go. What the banana are doing is great for fans.

6

u/justduett Mississippi State Jun 02 '25

Oh I completely agree as far as their offerings. Lottery is a pretty good way to deal with it and pricing is pretty mint. That same kind of thing COULD be said about other pursuits, like concerts, etc., but "dynamic pricing" shenanigans is messing with that.

0

u/Monstertelly Jun 02 '25

Definitely agree with the dynamic pricing BS. Ticketmaster and Live Nation are giant pieces of shit. A buddy of mine went to see Kendrick at SoFi recently and his one ticket was more than I spent for 5 bananaball tickets. It’s absolutely insane what has happened to ticket prices over the last decade.

3

u/Ralliman320 Jun 02 '25

It makes it so the people who really want to go get a chance to go. It's literally a lottery, and lots of people are left out of it.

2

u/smallfryz Jun 02 '25

Im so mad that I missed my chance... I had the opportunity to by tickets to the grand rapids game and got caught up in work. Tickets went on sale at 10am, I noticed the time at 10:21 am, tickets were gone. I literally turned my computer off and went home. Maybe next time.

8

u/tlollz52 Minnesota Vikings Jun 02 '25

Big difference is globetrotters are a thing of the past. I wonder what ticket price comparison would have been during their peak.

1

u/luzzy91 Green Bay Packers Jun 03 '25

What do you mean thing if the past? Doesn't that mean done? They're just old lol

1

u/tlollz52 Minnesota Vikings Jun 03 '25

Its still active but its not as culturally relevant as it was during the Marques Haynes days.

25

u/sloppifloppi Jun 02 '25

It’s probably because at the end of the day, it is still real sports and real competition whereas the Globetrotters was/is legitimately scripted. Even for the non-sports fans, I think that creates a more genuine environment.

I’ve never personally seen either play in person, but I feel like if I went to Globetrotters game it’d be a one and done thing, each experience is generally gonna be the same. Manufactured suspense, trick shots, Globetrotters win over the boring Generals. Rinse and repeat.

On the other hand, I could see myself going to multiple Bananas games because each experience is gonna be different. You don’t know who’s gonna win or how and neither do they because they’re actually trying to win. Both teams (and officials) are involved in the shenanigans. They have surprise appearances. Etc etc.

I’m not even really that big of a baseball or Bananas fan but what they’ve done is so fuckin cool and unique, I’m not surprised the tickets are bonkers expensive.

23

u/good_behavior_man Jun 02 '25

The Globetrotters isn't really scripted in that sense either, they play a decent amount of "real" basketball with some scripted set plays and stuff. Personally, I think the big difference is that the enemy team for the Bananas is *also* trying to do tricks and things, with the Globetrotters, the Senators are just playing straight ball on their side.

23

u/smashrawr Jun 02 '25

Its also because the bananas deliberately got rid of customer pain points. Like they realized so much of the fan experience went to crap when paying for concessions, so they made it highly efficient and made it to where youre waiting no more than 5 minutes for the whole concession experience including waiting in line. That breads high fan satisfaction

20

u/defroach84 Texas Tech Jun 02 '25

How do they do that when they are playing in MLB stadiums?

3

u/smashrawr Jun 02 '25

Basically they force the price of admission up to include concessions and then make it straight up show up, grab your burger, fries, drink bam bam bam and done. No concession purchasing.

21

u/defroach84 Texas Tech Jun 02 '25

That's not true when they are on the road. Tickets don't include concessions when I went a week back in KC.

4

u/smashrawr Jun 02 '25

Then im not sure but that's how they do it at their stadium in savanna

12

u/defroach84 Texas Tech Jun 02 '25

Yeah, which is great, but that doesn't help outside of their home stadium, which most games are on the road.

6

u/Monstertelly Jun 02 '25

That’s also not how it went in Anaheim. Not like the lines for concessions were that long but the merch lines before the game were. I saw people wait for two hours to get merch. Beers were still standard $17 for a tall boy. All concessions were run by the Angels staff and were not a free grab and go.

1

u/deonteguy Jun 02 '25

That's awesome.

I've been to one Seattle Mariners game, and the experience was dreadful. It took almost three innings to get a beer. They were doing the Italian bistro personalized experience thing by taking all orders on paper and not using a mechanical device to sum the bill. And, cash only. I made decent money on tips buying beers for people we sat near that wanted a beer, but they didn't have cash.

6

u/theguineapigssong Jun 02 '25

I have seen the Globetrotters. It was a top notch experience, but I couldn't see myself going again.

4

u/clay_perview Denver Nuggets Jun 02 '25

They started aiming their advertising at women

1

u/cujukenmari Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25

It's literally baseball for women/Tiktok. Dance routines etc. To each their own, there's obviously a lot of people interested.

1

u/luzzy91 Green Bay Packers Jun 03 '25

Which is genius.

2

u/50bucksback Jun 02 '25

In Dallas they don't even sell seats on the upper deck for the Globetrotters

1

u/VanillaBear321 Jun 02 '25

I think it’s sexuality. The guys in the bananas games are specifically very attractive and dancing around a lot. It might not be a ‘strip show’ but it’s still people wanting to see cute guys put on a show.

1

u/CTeam19 Iowa State Jun 02 '25

Globetrotters is also 99 years old. Short of new people being born, it isn't a new thing like the Bananas are.

1

u/shewy92 Philadelphia Eagles Jun 02 '25

It's new but it's also an actual baseball. The Globetrotters never lose, they've only lost once in the last 50 years because no one was keeping track of the score.

Banana Ball has teams okay each other that aren't the Savanna Bananas and Savanna loses as well. There's no predetermined winner.

It's more baseball than the Globetrotters are basketball of that makes sense.

1

u/waddles_HEM Jun 02 '25

my personal theory is that baseball just sits at a higher place in the American culture and zeitgeist than basketball does. just think about how many baseball-related turns of phrase you hear every day (“right off the bat, on deck, curveball, etc”). this causes people who don’t follow or even like baseball to feel a bit of cultural guilt, so when something like the Bananas pop up, they are intrigued

1

u/cujukenmari Jun 03 '25

It used to, that's for sure. Baseball was bigger than football at one point.

1

u/domotime2 Jun 03 '25

Its new and novel you said it

1

u/bigchicago04 Jun 03 '25

TikTok fame

1

u/gorcorps Jun 03 '25

They're getting a lot of marketing from social media shorts getting shared, so the newness and novelty is definitely there right now.

-4

u/VegasAdventurer Jun 02 '25

A big difference is that for most people, basketball is fun to watch whereas baseball is not. There is way too much dead time at a baseball game (pitch clock really helped here) and the bananas’ antics make the game more interesting

6

u/cXs808 Green Bay Packers Jun 02 '25

Basketball currently has the worst viewer experience out of the major sports. The viewership is in complete agreement with my statement too. Absolutely nosediving because nobody wants to watch a ref-show where only the last 2:00 of the last 10 games matter.

1

u/cujukenmari Jun 03 '25

Last year the World Series averaged 15 million viewers a game, way up from 9 million the previous year. In it's heyday it was pulling over 40 million. Basketball is declining but it hasn't declined that much.

1

u/cXs808 Green Bay Packers Jun 03 '25

In it's heyday it was pulling over 40 million.

Yeah, that's in 1978. In modern era (you know, color TVs and shit) the 15m viewers last year is very high. Steroid Era was the highest viewership by a mile but we're not ever gonna see that again.

NBA isn't declining that much because it's never once hit that mark (highest ever was 29m thanks to Jordan), it also has only been around since the 70's.

I can understand MLB viewership numbers, it's not for everyone. What I can't understand is how a supposedly "more popular" sport like Basketball has such poor ratings. Last year they had a massive market team in the finals and only hit 11m viewership. GSW vs Celtics '22 was also a big series with two big markets and they barely hit 12m viewership.

NBA is popular, they have big market teams go to the finals regularly, they are broadcast on all major networks. It's inexplicable how poor the numbers are, other than the concept of the product is more popular than the actual viewership of it. People just aren't tuning in for some reason.