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cover of episode Building the Savannah Bananas (with Jesse Cole, Founder and Owner)

Building the Savannah Bananas (with Jesse Cole, Founder and Owner)

2025/6/16
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ACQ2 by Acquired
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Ben
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David
波士顿大学电气和计算机工程系教授，专注于澄清5G技术与COVID-19之间的误信息。
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Jesse Cole
Topics
Jesse Cole: 我最初接手加斯托尼亚灰熊队时，球队濒临破产，观众寥寥无几。为了扭转局面，我开始研究各种娱乐形式，如P.T.巴纳姆、迪士尼和太阳马戏团，并将这些元素融入到棒球比赛中。我们尝试了各种疯狂的促销活动，如奶奶选美比赛和挖掘中国之夜，目的是为了吸引人们的注意，让大家觉得来看我们的比赛不仅仅是看棒球，更像是一场娱乐表演。经过十年的实验，我们逐渐提升了球队的知名度和盈利能力。在萨凡纳香蕉队成立初期，我们面临了更大的挑战，甚至卖掉了房子来维持运营。但我们坚持以球迷为中心，通过创新和独特的体验来吸引球迷，最终取得了巨大的成功。我始终认为，棒球不仅仅是一项运动，更是一种娱乐方式，而我们的目标就是为球迷创造最棒的体验。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Jesse Cole's journey began with a struggling summer league team. He transformed it through innovative entertainment, eventually leading him to Savannah and the creation of the Savannah Bananas and Banana Ball.
  • Started as a 23-year-old GM of a failing team with $268 in the bank.
  • Realized the need to focus on entertainment instead of just baseball.
  • Experimentation with various stunts and events to attract fans.
  • Met his wife, Emily McDonald, at a minor league baseball seminar.
  • Acquired the Savannah Bananas team and faced initial challenges, almost running out of money.
  • Sold their house to keep the team afloat.

Shownotes Transcript

The Savannah Bananas have created a whole new sport. It’s baseball, but it’s not. It’s fast-paced, exciting, and incredibly entertaining. For example, if you're batting, and you step out of the batter’s box... it’s a strike. If you bunt, you’re out. If a fan catches a foul ball… you’re also out. Games are capped at two hours with no exceptions. It’s sacrilegious to traditional baseball fans everywhere. But it’s hard to argue with their numbers: they have 3.2 million fans on a waiting list to see them and have been selling out 80,000-seat football stadiums over the past few months!

Today, we sit down with Jesse Cole, founder of the Savannah Bananas and creator of Banana Ball. We unpack the whole story, staring with a failing college summer league team, an air mattress, and a $30 weekly grocery budget. But these days... it's safe to say that Jesse and his wife don’t have to sleep on an air mattress anymore! And they have built the business in their own way, fully under their control, and uniquely “fans first”. They have a unique all-in ticketing model, where your game ticket gets you full access to food along with your seat. There are no ads or sponsorships. There are no ticket fees or middlemen. And in fact, Jesse and crew will even pay the sales tax on your ticket for you! Jesse is just totally obsessed with delighting fans, controlling the end-to-end experience, and thinking long term… even if it means leaving (a lot) of money on the table today.

This may be our most fun ACQ2 (or Acquired!) episode ever. Enjoy!

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