The barnstorming baseball entertainment phenomenon has identified youth sports as its “next frontier,” owner Jesse Cole posted on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, setting goals for 1M kids playing Banana Ball and a “Banana Ball World Series” with 30K in attendance.
Youth sports certainly has its challenges. It’s expensive, overly competitive and often inconvenient for families. It will take a lot of work to create something that is new and different. But we believe we can bring back the fun and affordability to parents and kids all over the country.
It takes putting ourselves in the shoes of our fans and focusing on one step at a time.
We started on this journey by hosting camps and tournaments and learned a lot. We have a long way to go on what can we be done all over the country. But we are ready for the challenge.
This is not completely out of left field.
The Bananas — who some are pegging at a $1B-plus valuation — have organized youth Banana Ball tournaments for 9U-12U. Think big welcome pool party, kids from around the country, individual registration, no pre-made rosters, music, trick plays, etc.
They have also made cameos elsewhere in the youth sports universe and we have seen some seemingly unsanctioned Banana Ball events here and there.
So this is potentially huge.
Jesse has a habit of calling his shot. So when he says “1M kids playing Banana Ball,” it’s worth paying attention to. [Little League International has around 2M].
Some - especially hardened baseball people - will probably roll their eyes at this. But if Quick Ball - which isn’t really quick, or baseball - and other stripped down or modified versions of other sports can catch on, surely Banana Ball would be able to.
We are headed for an MLB strike next year, and that will likely impact rec participation, at least initially. The Bananas have an opportunity to steal outsized mindshare if they’re the only game in town, and you bet kids will want to ape what they see at those games.
There are no pre-made rosters at Banana tournaments. Kids sign up, get placed on a team, and have fun. This is a take on what I’ve been calling “professionalized rec” or the pick-up, sandlot-style of sport we discussed on the podcast. I think there will be a general trend of casual players and parents wanting to opt out of the high-pressure competitive nature of travel programs, and it will play right into the Bananas’ hands (peels?).
Their last tournament was $595 per player. $595 × 1M kids is, well, I’m not good at math, but probably something like 595 million banana peels.🤳 Follow Buying Sandlot on Social
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Good game.