Savannah Bananas: Why this Darden professor is studying a dancing baseball team

University of Virginia professor Les Alexander saw clips of the choreographed dances and comedic skits under the guise of a baseball game and naturally wondered how the Savannah Bananas could be integrated into a Darden School of Business classroom.

No, Alexander wasn’t trying to figure out how he could deliver a lecture while walking on stilts, or if he could train his students to do backflips before answering questions. Rather, he wished to learn more about the Bananas’ successful business model – entertaining quirks and all – and if it could offer lessons to aspiring organizational leaders.

Bananas “Fans First” director Marie Matzinger offers Alexander a pair of stilts to try out before a member of the team plays baseball on them during the game. While Alexander respectfully declined, he was entertained by the Bananas’ many antics throughout the night. (Photo by Kyle Niehoff, Darden School of Business)

“The thing that clicked for me,” Alexander said, “is this is such a great story of innovation and market disruption that it would make for a really interesting case discussion.”

Alexander, a 1989 UVA alumnus, has written a pair of case studies since joining the Darden School’s faculty in 2022. These publications serve as core teaching tools on North Grounds and are used to challenge students to discuss real-world and real-business problems and possible solutions.

Alexander’s dive into the Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming, norm-challenging exhibition baseball team – think Harlem Globetrotters on a diamond – that’s sold out football stadiums and has filled ESPN primetime viewing slots this summer, could be published as early as the fall. The six-month process has included interviews with Bananas team president Jared Orton and other members of the organization’s front office, as well as a late June visit to Nationals Park in Washington to see how the team operates on a game day.

The Bananas, as part of their 2025 tour across 40 cities and 25 states, drew more than 80,000 fans during two sold-out nights at Nats Park. Alexander, who attended June 27 with two members of the Darden School’s video team to capture footage for the case, was in awe of the atmosphere and performance.

“From the moment you sit down, it’s music, and it’s choreographed dancing and it’s little silly games on the field, and it’s singalongs with the crowd, and it’s the entry music for the players,” Alexander said. “It’s just nonstop entertainment. There’s no quiet moment for the two hours that you are there watching the game go on. It’s a lot of fun.”

Throughout his study, Alexander has admired the Bananas’ commitment to “Fans First,” their mantra that repeats as the title of owner Jesse Cole’s book. When a lottery mishap in February fooled more than 40,000 fans into thinking they had a chance to buy tickets to a game in the Bananas’ home stadium, the Bananas atoned for their mistake, offering free tickets to those impacted for remaining games on their tour, a move the Atlanta Journal-Constitution estimated could cost the organization $7 million.

In a less extreme example of the Bananas’ dedication to their supporters, Alexander received a thank-you email from a Bananas player a few days after the game in Washington.

“You can translate that into any business,” he said. “Are you taking care of your customers in the right way? Are you truly putting them first, and are you doing everything you can to make sure that they have a positive experience?

“They didn’t have to (send that email). They got my money. But they continue to think of ways to engage with their fans. I think it’s refreshing. I can’t think of the last time I went to an NFL or an MLB game and received a thank you for going.”

In addition to using it in his course on venture capital leadership, Alexander is hopeful his case study on the Bananas will also support other business-related courses, like marketing or management.

Each Darden case presents an issue for an organization to resolve. With the Bananas, that’s maintaining a standard, Alexander said.

“It’s been tremendously successful,” he said. “‘We’ve got fans all over the place. How do we continue to reach our fans and bring them more ‘Banana Ball?’ So that is the question of the case – ‘Where do we take it from here, and how do we continue to meet the fan demand?’

“And it’ll be fun to toss it around and to see what students think about how you might want to structure something, how you might go about implementing it. And there’s not one path, so it’ll be good debate in the classroom as to what’s the appropriate way to approach this.”

This article was originally published in UVA Today.

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