Sports purists don’t have to like it, but “entertainment sports” are not going anywhere.
While the Savannah Bananas have mastered this new art, Cosmic Sports has its own twist: glowing in the dark.
Wonky uniforms and player personalities are a part of the Cosmic Sports regimen, but combine that all with tons of black lights, and it’s a hit for everybody.
“We want the kids to have an amazing time, the mom to have an amazing time, the granddad or grandpa — whatever, come out and have a great time,” Cosmic Sports founder Chris Martin recently said to FOX Business.
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Professional athletes’ No. 1 goal is, and should be, to win a championship. Cosmic Sports has a slightly different goal for its athletes.
“We start with that mentality of being really fan-focused. I think the reason why it works so well is that we’re bridging the gap between a professional athlete and a fan, which has gotten broader and broader in professional sports. I don’t blame anyone for that, but for us, we want to shrink that gap,” Martin said.
“We want our players to be accessible to our fans. We want them to meet fans before games at our block party. We want them to participate with fans during the game. After the game, we want them to sign autographs. The gap has gotten so big in professional sports between the fan and the player because athletes are expected to play at such a high level and aren’t supposed to have distractions. We’ve seen so much success because we’ve brought it all together. I think entertainment sports in general have brought that gap together, and that’s probably the biggest reason why you’ve seen so much success.”
Make no mistake, though — the effort on the field is just as high as it is in the big leagues.
“I think that’s one of the things that separates us from other entertainment sports out there. We ask our guys to play at the highest level they possibly can, and at the same time, we tell them to entertain their fans and focus on them,” Martin said. “Let’s see where the success goes from there, but let’s play at the highest level possible by balancing the two. That’s really challenging.”
“You might go 0-for-4, but you’re not going to walk into your locker room and get released. You might have made other impacts. You went 0-for-4, but you made a trick play, went into the crowd and engaged with the fans, or signed autographs before and after the game,” Martin added. “You impacted people’s lives around the country that night or throughout the year. You could go 3-for-4 and do nothing with the fans, and that’s not necessarily the athlete we’re looking for.”
The 2026 Cosmic Baseball Tour sold 750,000 tickets, a 400% increase from the 150,000 sold during the 2025 tour. Each of the 74 games played was sold out. Martin credited the Bananas and their founder, Jesse Cole, for putting entertainment sports on the map, but Martin knows his product has never been seen before.
“You’re your own light source. My hat becomes its own light source when the black lights hit you, and that’s the coolest part. Diving into that helped us a lot. The very first game we played had black lights and confetti. Now we have black lights, confetti, bubbles, lasers and pixel strips in the outfield. The players are more engaged. We did that fireworks show in Buffalo in 2026. That was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done in my life. We just keep stretching it. It’s unlimited. Anything you want to put your mind to, you can do it and figure it out.”
The 2027 campaign may just be the biggest for Cosmic Sports, though. After last year’s success, the 2027 baseball tour will stop at five MLB stadiums for the first time. The brand is also tapping into hockey, and that tour will begin in one of the most famous sporting venues in the world: Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, where the 1980 United States Olympic men’s hockey team upset the Soviet Union for the “Miracle on Ice” and later won the gold medal.
“Oh my God. There’s so much history here. When we first talked about Lake Placid, I thought, ‘This is the hardest place in the world to fly into,’” Martin joked. “But it has so much history, and it’s pretty incredible.
“You come here and automatically feel this aura. You definitely feel the vibe. What a great place for training for us. The players are all stuck in one little small town, and they’re able to train, eat lunch and dinner, read together and hang out together. It has been absolutely incredible. To launch Cosmic Hockey this way, I don’t think we could have done it in a better way. For our first game on Dec. 18, it’s going to be something nobody has ever seen before — not even close. From the tech package to the in-game experience, even if you’ve been to Cosmic Baseball, this is going to be much different.”
Martin is trying not to focus on where his business will be five or 10 years from now. Expectations, numbers and goals change. This year is too important for him to look too far down the road, anyway (he does, obviously, want to tap into more sports).
“That’s one of the hard questions we get all the time. I live so much in the moment, and we’ve moved so fast as a company into the entertainment sports industry,” Martin said.
But one given is that he wants Cosmic to outdo itself each year.
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“For us, it’s about getting better every day. How can we provide a different experience? When you look at Cosmic Sports right now, in four or five years, the experience will be completely different. Every year, we want to elevate that experience for all of our fans. As long as we continue providing new core memories, the next five or 10 years will be phenomenal for Cosmic Sports as a whole …” Martin said.
“I honestly think Cosmic is built to be in front of a lot of fans at one time because it’s a giant, family-friendly party. You’re not just watching; you’re part of it. Someone in the top deck can have the same amazing experience as somebody sitting close to the field. It’s different from any other sport or entertainment sport in the world. You are truly glowing in every single seat, and we focus heavily on that.”
The post Cosmic Sports founder talks rapid growth, hockey expansion and taking entertainment sports to new heights appeared first on Fox Business.
