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By Michaela Gordoni
No matter how big the Savannah Bananas get, they will always make fans their top priority.
“When I first joined the team a couple of years ago, we basically just played in minor league stadiums in front of maybe 8,000 people at a time,” left fielder RobertAnthony Cruz said in a recent social media video. “And this Saturday, we play in front of 100,000 for the second time this year. So there are some people who think the Savannah Bananas have gotten too cool for school.”
But another game they played at this week only fits 6,000 people.
“Players are signing autographs before the game, during the game and even after the game,” Cruz said.
During the game, a player runs up through the stadium and hands a rose to a fan.
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“What you may not see is there is an organizational-wide commitment to this fans-first mentality. For example, even just a few weeks ago we played a game, free admission, in a high school in Texas,” Cruz said. “Monetarily, the game makes no sense for the Bananas to fly out the entire team and staff for a game that’s free at a random high school.”
The game showed the Bananas’ commitment to their fans.
“Don’t get me wrong, these big games are still so cool,” he continued. “Players are still up on the third deck signing autographs, taking pictures, passing out roses. That little pop-up game that we played at that high school in Texas, that was symbolic of this greater mission that the Bananas have.”
Every team in the Banana Ball organization — all six teams — has a mission to prioritize the fans.
“All [are] selling out stadiums all over the country,” Cruz said. “And as someone on the inside, I want you guys to know, Bananas and the entire staff are daily reminded of the roots of this organization.”
In the comment section of the video, many fans appreciated the organization’s efforts but pointed out that it’s hard for them to feel connected or get autographs at the larger games. Others say they can’t afford the tickets anymore.
The team’s founders, Jesse and Emily Cole, say they designed their organization to ignore numbers.
“We’re not trying to build a billion-dollar company. We’re trying to create a billion fans,” Jesse said.
Their mission statement is “Fans First. Entertain Always.”
Kara Heater, Savannah Bananas’ VP of marketing said, “In everything we do, we’re always making sure that we come back to that and asking ourselves, is this fans first? If the answer is no, we’re going to go back to the drawing table every single time.”
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