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CHAPTERS
Jump to publisher timestampsChapter summaries
Bucket-list moments and the contagious power of joy
Jesse Cole describes the pre-show energy of fans who treat attending as a bucket-list experience and celebrate the entire Bananas organization, not just the players. He frames the core mission as creating memorable moments rather than chasing revenue, growth, or sales.
- •Fans arrive excited, wearing gear, eager to interact with staff and players alike
- •The staff feeds off fan energy, reinforcing the experience loop
- •Jesse says the focus is not money, sales, revenue, or even growth
- •He emphasizes building and talking about what matters most: daily “amazing moments”
- •Joy is described as contagious and central to what they’re building
Meet Jesse Cole and the Bananas’ “new kind of sport”
Host Jeff Berman introduces Jesse Cole as founder of the Savannah Bananas and Fans First Entertainment, known publicly for his yellow suit appearances. The conversation is set on location at Angel Stadium, ahead of a game, positioning the Bananas as a fan-delighting entertainment concept.
- •Jeff introduces the show setting and today’s guest, Jesse Cole
- •Jesse is described as founder of the Savannah Bananas and Fans First Entertainment
- •Jeff frames the Bananas as scaling a fast-paced, circus-style version of professional baseball
- •The recording is on location at Angel Stadium before a Bananas game
- •Jeff sets up the conversation around what fan obsession can teach any business
From a childhood Fenway moment to a career-ending injury
Jesse recounts growing up as a Red Sox fan and a formative childhood experience in the dugout with a player who took time with him. That moment inspired a vow to play at Fenway, until a major shoulder injury ended his playing career and redirected him toward shaping the fan experience instead.
- •Jesse describes being a shy kid and a devoted Red Sox fan with his dad
- •A player spent meaningful time with him in the dugout, reshaping his sense of what baseball could be
- •He vowed to one day play at Fenway and pursued baseball seriously
- •He had scouts watching him on a Division One scholarship before tearing his shoulder
- •The injury abruptly ended his playing dream and pushed him toward front-office impact
Learning the entertainment craft in the front office and early failures
Jesse explains how an internship revealed that the front office could design the experience around the game. He describes a long period of experimentation in Gastonia, then launching the Bananas, failing badly, and later reaching milestones like selling out Fenway with fans singing “Yellow.”
- •An internship showed Jesse how much the front office can shape fan experience
- •He began thinking about what could be changed to make baseball less boring
- •He spent years in Gastonia testing ways to excite audiences before Savannah
- •He says the Bananas initially failed and he lost everything before turning it around
- •He describes later selling out Fenway with thousands singing “Yellow” as a defining moment
The idea-box philosophy: “Whatever’s normal, do the opposite”
Jesse shares the turning point of attending a conference focused on ideas, where a lesson from Bill Veeck reframed ideas as the most valuable asset. He built an “idea box,” studied showmen like P.T. Barnum and Walt Disney, and began pushing unconventional promotions to stand out.
- •Jesse describes starting with almost no money and a struggling team situation
- •He attends a conference where speakers emphasize bold thinking and memorable hooks
- •A story attributed to Bill Veeck highlights the primacy of saving “the idea” first
- •Jesse creates an “idea box” and starts collecting unconventional concepts
- •He begins learning from P.T. Barnum and Walt Disney to think beyond sports norms
Testing wild promotions in Gastonia: grandmas, whoopee cushions, and “garbage can nachos”
Jesse lists early experiments designed to surprise fans and spark attention, including a grandma beauty pageant that veered unpredictably. He describes a mindset of constant novelty—some ideas landing, others not—but all contributing to an experimentation culture.
- •A grandma beauty pageant becomes an example of unpredictable live experimentation
- •He describes giveaways and theme nights aimed at being intentionally different
- •“Garbage can nachos” become a standout food innovation he says they still do
- •He emphasizes that trying unusual ideas leads to unexpected moments
- •The Gastonia years functioned as an experimentation lab for what came later
Building a repeatable creative engine: a weekly show model and learning by doing
Jesse explains how the team evolved from improvisational experimentation into a structured approach inspired by a sketch-comedy cadence. He highlights reducing fear of failure, trying things quickly, and watching real fan reactions—rather than relying on surveys or abstract planning.
- •He says early on they had “nothing to lose,” which lowered the cost of failure
- •They developed a weekly idea and rehearsal rhythm similar to a Saturday Night Live model
- •He cites Walt Disney’s emphasis on experimenting rather than relying on rigid process
- •They watch fans closely to learn what works and then iterate
- •He argues for doing and observing rather than using surveys and overthinking perception
Watching fans instead of following the plan: the case for faster, more engaging games
Jesse describes how observing fan behavior—especially leaving early—forced a pivot from the original plan of simply being a baseball team. He outlines a broader philosophy of creating for future fans, putting more ideas into the world, and accepting criticism from traditionalists.
- •They noticed fans leaving early despite added entertainment
- •Jesse attributes early departures to games being too long and too slow
- •The team studied behavior directly through video and timed observation
- •He stresses designing for future fans, not just current ones
- •He says they accept failure and criticism and focus on who they’re truly for
Why he didn’t stay inside traditional baseball: controlling the show by rewriting the rules
Jesse contrasts creating inside a traditional system with building an experience he personally loves. He explains the appeal of designing the rules of the game and show so the audience can reliably have a great time regardless of wins and losses.
- •He says great creators want to build what they love, not just fulfill a system’s goals
- •Traditional leagues enforce rules and punish experimentation, which he found limiting
- •He believed a broader audience wanted fun without taking it too seriously
- •He emphasizes that teams can’t control wins and losses but can control the show
- •Designing the rules of the game enables consistent, repeatable audience delight
Betting the house and iterating in public: early Banana Ball tests, debt, and the first sellouts
Jesse describes starting Banana Ball by testing behind closed doors and expecting early chaos. He recounts the financial strain—selling a house, emptying savings, living on an airbed—and the mindset of pushing toward the next show until the momentum of sellouts arrived.
- •They tested Banana Ball privately and focused on making it hard to look away from the action
- •He says new ideas don’t work immediately and begin as chaos
- •They avoided outside capital and relied on learning to sell tickets through the experience
- •Jesse describes severe financial pressure, including selling their house and living with major debt
- •They focused on reaching opening night, creating attention with on-field entertainment, and started selling out
Scaling the tour: learning logistics the hard way and discovering fans who won’t leave
Jesse explains how they took the show on the road with minimal know-how, learning merchandising, sound, and stadium logistics through trial and error. A breakthrough moment came when fans stayed long after a road game, signaling they had created something meaningfully different.
- •They toured with a packed truck and learned live-event logistics through mistakes
- •Early road shows included failures like sound problems, followed by quick fixes
- •He describes measuring success by whether people are excited enough to show up
- •A fireworks surprise and fans staying long after the game signaled a key breakthrough
- •They expanded city by city, eventually reaching major stadiums and larger venues
Marketing by investing in the experience, then amplifying what’s remarkable
Jesse says the Bananas spend nothing on marketing and instead invest in making the experience so notable it becomes inherently shareable. He references P.T. Barnum to underline that promotion matters, but only works when there’s something truly remarkable to promote.
- •Jesse says they spend zero dollars on marketing and invest in the live experience
- •He reframes marketing as capturing and sharing what’s already remarkable
- •He quotes P.T. Barnum to emphasize that promotion prevents “nothing” from happening
- •He acknowledges social media helps amplification but can’t replace the core product
- •The goal is to create standout moments every night worth sharing
Borrowing from great fan builders: clubs, access, and a strict “Fans First” approach
Jesse explains how studying fan-centric creators informed decisions like building membership access and keeping content widely available. He draws a bright line that “Fans First always” guides business decisions, and describes fear of slowly losing fans if they compromise for short-term gains.
- •He cites studying the best in other industries to identify transferable principles
- •He describes fan-friendly tactics inspired by other models, including a large membership program
- •Jeff contrasts rights-control approaches with the Bananas’ willingness to stream games globally for free
- •Jesse insists “Fans First always,” describing it as mission and values, not a tactic
- •He frames compromising fan trust as a slow erosion that scares him more than lost revenue
Scaling without diluting: productive paranoia, six teams, and making every show distinct
Jesse describes “productive paranoia” as the drive to make every part of the experience better each year, especially as the organization grows. He details the challenge of running multiple teams while keeping each one distinctive, investing heavily in unique elements so audiences feel they’re seeing something new.
- •He describes daily fear of losing fans as “productive paranoia” that motivates improvement
- •The scope now includes a multi-team league with a season and tournament
- •He says brand dilution is a major worry, requiring distinct shows and identities
- •He points to other teams drawing large interest and selling shows without the Bananas present
- •He emphasizes investing heavily in unique entertainment so fans feel they’re seeing something they’ve never seen on a baseball field
Affordable tickets by design, plus what’s next: platforms, ops partnerships, and an “energy list”
Jesse explains why they keep ticket prices low and even build tools that cost them money to protect face-value access, because the goal is creating fans. He then discusses investing in broadcast and logistics, dividing creative and operational leadership, and closes with his personal “energy list” framework for choosing work that sustains him.
- •He says the goal is creating fans, not maximizing ticket revenue, despite strong secondary-market demand
- •They keep prices within a fixed range, remove fees, and cover taxes to lower friction for fans
- •They built a face-value secondary marketplace to deter ticket scalping, even though it costs them money
- •He describes major investments in broadcast and nationwide logistics, plus a partnership split between creative focus and operational execution
- •He closes by sharing his “energy list” concept—creating, sharing, and growing—as a guide for career direction
Publisher timestamps
- 0:00Introducing Jesse Cole
- 2:02From Fenway dreams to a career-ending injuryRead this chapter
- 4:12The idea box: whatever's normal, do the oppositeRead this chapter
- 7:04How the Bananas build a brand-new show every week
- 8:35Watching fans instead of following the plan
- 12:03Betting the house on banana ball
- 16:39Lessons from Barnum & Disney
- 18:32Fans first, always: productive paranoia at scaleRead this chapter
- 22:04Cheap tickets by design, and advice for what's nextRead this chapter
