Could the uber-popular independent baseball team, the Savannah Bananas, be sold to MLB one day? Co-owner and team ringleader Jesse Cole says there is no chance. And he's offered up surprising reasons why.
The Savannah Bananas brand has grown exponentially over the last few years. Things have gotten to the point where the team that plays in competitive but comedic games is selling out MLB stadiums around the country consistently. It is a money-making machine that surely has the attention of major companies and leagues, such as MLB.
However, if MLB or any major corporation came calling to own the Bananas brand, co-owner and founder Jesse Cole recently explained why he would never sell. Because it isn't about the money, and instead, the goal is to create a brand that is recognized around the globe.
"No, and I would never sell. No, why would I? It's not about the money," Cole said in a recent interview . "What would I do? I'd be bored. I think the difference is a lot of people, when they start things, they wanna make a lot of money. That's never been my interest. Nine years ago, I was sleeping on an air bed. I want to create a billion fans.
"We love this so much. Every day we come out here and get to do things we've never done before and get to have control of creating something. We could make millions and millions more if we charged the ticket price that people would pay," he admitted. "The average ticket on the secondary market is going for $300 or $400. Our average ticket is $40 to $60. No ticket fees, no service fees, no convenience fees.
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As the Bananas' style of sports and entertainment continues to grow, they are constantly compared to the Harlem Globetrotters. However, Cole claimed recently that the comparison couldn't be further from the truth. The reason being is the legendary basketball team turned into a pure moneymaking enterprise. He has far bigger goals for "Banana ball."
"We are not the Globetrotters. We are going to go out and create competitive Banana ball. We're building a sport," Cole said. "The Globetrotters in the 1940s sold out Madison Square Garden twice in one day. They went to Berlin and played in front of 75,000 people. They were the most popular sports team in the world. But what did they do? They said, 'Let's just form another Globetrotters team, and another, and let's just script the show every night so we win and do the exact same things over and over.'
"The NBA was booking them to try and get fans to stay for the NBA games. So my question is, what if the Globetrotters said in the 1940s, 'We create our own league.' Would they be the NBA? Those are the crazy things we think about," he added. "MLB is great, and it will be here forever. We look at it like boxing and UFC. Boxing is still tremendous, but UFC came around and said we are going to do it differently."
It is a bold goal. But for a team that has recently sold out football stadiums for games, it is hard to doubt them right now.
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