Since they started playing baseball in the Coastal Plain League in 2016, the Savannah Bananas have been the toughest ticket in town – with 88 consecutive sellouts at Grayson Stadium.
That streak will certainly continue – albeit on a smaller scale, as owner Jesse Cole has had to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic. The Bananas have pushed back opening day from May 18 to July 1 and plan to implement social distancing at Grayson, which normally has a seating capacity of 4,100. Around 2,000 fans will be allowed to attend matches under the plan this season.
This would leave many Banana fans out of the loop, so Cole – who is known as a marketing whiz who embraces the latest technology – will implement game live streaming to give fans a chance to experience the buzzing atmosphere. of the game Banana online.
“A lot of teams are streaming games live, but we’re trying to reimagine what a game might look like online,” Cole said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Our games are like a circus and we want the experience to be unique with our live broadcast. We seek to show the action with drone shots, cameras on the players when they are on the field and in the dugout and live microphones on players and coaches.
“We’re thinking about how we might get fans to make decisions like baseball has never seen before – those are the questions we’re asking. Could fans make choices about what uniforms we wear, who will be in the starting lineup, and what kind of walk-in music players have? We want to have unique camera angles and coaches could explain game decisions as they are captured. We are looking at all possibilities.
The Bananas are set to play 30 home games this year, and each will be broadcast with Banana staff offering live interviews and player and coaching reports, along with insight into the personalities who have made the franchise so popular in the city. hostess.
The streaming service will cost $4.99 per month and is set to start on June 23. Fans who register will first have access to gifts, merchandise and other benefits. Fans can register at this link — https://thesavannahbananas.com/bananasinsider/.
Cole said hundreds of people from around the world had already expressed interest with fans from as far away as Australia, Brazil and the UK when the program was announced on May 20.
