ACQ2: Building the Savannah Bananas with Jesse Cole, Founder and Owner (Audio)
Jesse Cole built the Savannah Bananas from $268 in the bank and a twin air mattress to 3.2M fans on a waitlist and sellouts in 80,000-seat football stadiums.
- Bananas sold 1M tickets last year, 2M this year, with 3.2M on the waitlist; TikTok following exceeds all MLB teams combined.
- Cole sold his house and lived on $30/week groceries in a cockroach-infested garage to keep the Savannah team alive in early 2016.
- All-in ticket model: $35-$60 includes food and drinks, no fees, and Cole pays sales tax on every ticket and merchandise item.
- Zero outside investors, zero debt, no sponsorships — revenue is purely tickets and merchandise, which Cole describes as the core of profitability.
- Cole deliberately refused exclusive broadcast deals; every game streams free on YouTube while ESPN and TNT run the same feed with ads.
- At Clemson’s 81,000-seat stadium, 60% of attendees traveled from outside South Carolina; stadiums are provided rent-free in exchange for food/bev revenue.
- Cole owns all teams in the Banana Ball league to protect the fans-first model, citing the Harlem Globetrotters’ decline after scripting outcomes as the cautionary tale.
- A quiet membership program called the K Club charges $59/year for ticket access guarantees and is growing to thousands with no advertising.
2025-06-16 · Watch on YouTube
