The Savannah Bananas embarked on their first so-called world tour five years ago. It included only one stop — in Mobile, Ala.
As the unique brand of baseball entertainment known as Banana Ball expanded into a six-team league, the tours have grown in size and scope but never actually ventured out of the United States.
That will change next year. The 2027 Banana Ball Championship League tour will visit 79 stadiums across 74 cities, including the first-ever international stops. Four teams will travel to Mexico, with the Bananas playing the Texas Tailgaters in Monterrey on Feb. 5 and 6 and the Party Animals taking on the Loco Beach Coconuts in Tijuana on Feb. 12 and 13.
The tour swings to Canada in late summer, with the Bananas playing the Indiananapolis Clowns in Toronto on Aug. 14 and 15 and the Tailgaters facing the Party Animals in Winnipeg on Aug. 26 and 28.
“We got a lot of criticism over the years. ‘It’s not a world tour, you’re playing in one city! It’s not a world tour, you’re playing in seven cities in the southeast!’” Banana Ball creator and owner Jesse Cole said Thursday on ESPN2. “But we saw where we could go, and we’ve always had a vision to create 1 billion fans, one fan at a time. And over the last two or three years, we’ve heard from a lot of different countries all over the world.”
Cole said he expects the 2027 tour to draw an estimated 4.3 million fans.
“Everything we do is do one experiment and then see where it can go,” he said. “And this crazy experiment of Banana Ball has gone some places we never imagined.”
Another new stop next year will be Dodger Stadium, where the Bananas will play the Firefighters on April 23 and 24. The same teams also will face off at Angel Stadium on July 2 and 3, marking the third consecutive year the Bananas have played at the venue.
The schedule reveal show included a number of announcements, including the debut of a concept called Banana Ball 360 on June 26 at Notre Dame Stadium. Two baseball fields will be set up on opposite ends of the stadium, with the game taking place on each during alternating innings.
“I do believe that fans at that show are going to be able to see things they’ve never seen before, and also every single seat is a great seat,” Cole said. “And that was the idea.”
Also announced were a new Disney-produced film documenting the growth of Banana Ball, which will premiere June 12 at Atlanta’s Truist Park, and the league’s third cruise, “Bananaland at Sea + Puerto Rico,” in January 2028. The cruise will depart from the Port of Miami and will feature a Banana Ball game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.
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