2024-10-04 23:20:04
The Savannah Bananas are on the move.
After selling out baseball stadiums all over the country in 2024, they’ve set their sites on next season, announcing next season’s schedule at the 2025 Banana Ball World Tour City Draft on Thursday night.
In 2025, the league will grow to four teams with the addition of the Texas Tailgaters, and not only will they play in 18 Major League Baseball stadiums, they will take over fields in three football stadiums―two of them in the NFL and Clemson Death Valley.
But that’s not all. In 2026 Banana Ball will grow into a six-team league with a 60-game nationwide schedule.
Hoping to see a game next year? Here’s a look at the schedule.
The Bananas announced 30 home games, and home opening weekend is slated for Feb. 21. Here’s a look at their home games:
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
Take a look:Highlights from the Savannah Bananas Banana Ball game at Fenway Park in Boston
In 2025, the Savannah Bananas will head to18 MLB stadiums, a bump from the five visited last year as well as three football stadiums.
The NFL stadiums set for Banana Ball in 2025 are Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN, home to the Tennessee Titans; and Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC, home to the Carolina Panthers. The team will also go to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.
The stadiums the team will travel to in 2025 include the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins.
Background:On Our Radar: Savannah Bananas hope to “shock the world” with big announcements at Oct. 3 draft
Football stadiums are known to have some of the best atmospheres in sports, Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole. But the football stadiums also provide an opportunity to lean into Banana Ball’s novelty: the ability to change the game.
Adapting Banana Ball to a football field could mean altering outfield fence distances or field dimensions, changes that could make the games more exciting by bringing more homeruns or closer outfield seats, Cole said.
“They are the largest stadiums in the country, and we are trying to entertain and take care of the most amount of fans we can,” Cole said.
MLB pedigree:Going Bananas: Sold-out stint at Fenway a bucket list item for Savannah Bananas owner, players
The Texas Tailgaters are the newest team in Banana Ball, slated to join the league in 2025.
The name is a nod to one of the things Texas sports fans are known to do well: tailgating.
“We have this big vision for the greatest pregame in sports that we are going to build there,” Cole said.
The fourth team makes the final piece of yet another addition to Banana Ball in 2025: a championship tournament with games at Grayson Stadium. Cole dubbed the season-ending event as a Tour Championship.
That championship is a lead up to the first-ever professional Banana Ball league slated for 2026. The origins of a potential league have roots in Banana Ball’s inception, Cole said.
Cole said he saw how Banana Ball had the potential for every game to be competitive, unique and new each night.
“To do that you need to have more teams competing against each other, creating storylines,” Cole said. “That was the vision.”
Katie Landeck is a trending reporter.
Evan Lasseter is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.
(An update was made to this story to reflect our editorial standards.)
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