The Savannah Bananas Announce 2024 Banana Ball World Tour Schedule; Tampa Bay to Launch Tour Festivities
Bananas also Announce New Golden Batter Rule; Firefighters Become the Newest Team
The Savannah Bananas are bringing “The Greatest Show in Sports” (ESPN) to one million fans and six Major League Baseball stadiums across 29 cities and 20 states in 2024.
The tour begins with a return to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay on February 8 and a return visit to the Peoria Sports Complex the following weekend. The Bananas will celebrate the eighth anniversary of the Bananas team name by opening up Savannah games on February 23, and 24, and the official anniversary date of February 25. The Bananas will also return to Jacksonville, Fresno, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Durham, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Des Moines in 2024.
Taken with the number one overall draft pick at the 2024 Banana Ball World Tour Draft, Tampa Bay, which hosted a pair of memorable Savannah Bananas contests during the 2023 Tour, will launch the 2024 version on February 8-10 at George Steinbrenner Field. in 2023, the Bananas upended the Party Animals 5-4 during their first night in Tampa Bay, before taking down the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) 8-0 the following night.
"Team Tampa Bay is beyond excited for this opportunity to help launch the 2024 Banana Ball World Tour in our own backyard," said Rob Higgins, Executive Director at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. “As we saw with the two sold-out crowds at Steinbrenner Field in 2023, the community is yearning for more Banana Ball and we’re pumped to have that special opportunity again in just a few short months. We're thankful for Jesse Cole entrusting us to kick off their tour as only Tampa Bay can. We look forward to seeing all of Bananaland back in Tampa Bay."
The Bananas will play in their first Major League Baseball stadium on March 9 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The Bananas will play at six MLB ballparks in total, with other stops being at Fenway Park in Boston, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Progressive Field in Cleveland, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and loanDepot Park in Miami.
“We continue to think big with Banana Ball and are thrilled to announce our most ambitious schedule yet,” said Bananas owner Jesse Cole.
“From playing in front of 500,000 fans in 2023 to now entertaining more than one million in 2024, we’re fired up to take this to the MLB level and visit some of the most beautiful and iconic ballparks, as well as watch the Party Animals become the headliner in four different cities. The 2024 Banana Ball World Tour will take our young sport to a higher level than ever before,” he continued.
The Party Animals will be taking over Historic Grayson Stadium again in 2024 hosting six games across two weekends. For the first time, they will be the headliners of a party-packed show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina.
This year’s tour wraps up at loanDepot Park in Miami on October 12, before 2,500 fans pack their bags and set sail on the first ever Bananas cruise - Bananaland at Sea – from October 14 through October 18. Fans will on board with their favorite Banana Ball characters, players, dancers, performers, and mascots.
“We’ve been building Banana Ball since 2018 and set some lofty goals and as incredible as it feels to have accomplished so many of them so quickly, we’re still just in our first inning,” said Bananas’ head coach Tyler Gillum. “2024 will be the next step on the ladder of creating the Greatest Show in Sports. We can’t wait to put on a better show than ever for the fans!”
New for the 2024 tour, will be the eleventh rule of Banana Ball, the Golden Batter Rule. With this rule, one time a game a team may send any batter in the lineup to hit it any spot.
“The goal of this rule is to have your best hitter be able to hit when the game is on the line," said Jesse Cole. “We believe this will make each game as competitive as it gets until the final out of the game.”
The Bananas will face off against their rival, the Party Animals, and the newest Banana Ball team, The Firefighters. All three team rosters will be filled with the most entertaining and talented players in the world, including former MLB stars and celebrity guests. In 2023, former Major League stars Jake Peavy, Hunter Pence, Johnny Damon, Josh Reddick, and Barry Zito all joined the team during the tour.
“I think this year showed people that we aren’t just here to entertain but that we can actually play at a very high level too,” Bananas’ infielder Jackson Olson said. “2023 was life-changing for all of us but 2024 is about to be the biggest challenge yet and we’re all ready for it.”
When the Savannah Bananas are not on the road, they play their home games in front of a sold-out, 4,000-person crowd at Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia. Bananas games at Grayson Stadium have been sold out for eight straight years.
To learn more, please visit https://bananaball.com/tickets/ or https://www.bananaslottery2024.fansfirsttickets.com/ .
About the Savannah Bananas
The Savannah Bananas are a baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia and play their home games at Historic Grayson Stadium, but they take the show on the road on their Banana Ball World Tour. The team has been featured on ESPN, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Sports Illustrated and are made popular by their in-game entertainment and social media presence.
The team has been known as TikTok’s favorite team with over 7.5 million followers, millions more than every MLB team. The Bananas have been featured across the globe for everything from playing a game in kilts, using a Dancing First Base Coach, the first ever baseball player to wear stilts, players backflipping while catching fly balls, and a whole lot more.
The Bananas play their own version of baseball called Banana Ball, a fast-paced, action-packed style of baseball with rules that include no bunting, a two-hour time limit, fans catching foul balls for outs, batters stealing first base, and a one-on-one tiebreaker showdown at the end of the game if it’s tied
The 2022 World Tour was turned into a 5-part documentary, Bananaland, that can be seen on ESPN+. The show will return for season two, Bananaland: The Road to Cooperstown, and premiere exclusively on the Savannah Bananas YouTube channel.