ATLANTA — The Savannah Bananas were a big hit in Chicago the last two summers, selling out games at the White Sox’s Rate Field in 2025 and the Cubs’ Wrigley Field in July.
Now the barnstorming tour of rollicking baseball entertainment is upping its game: Banana Ball is headed to Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2027 for the first baseball game to be played at the 102-year-old stadium.
The Bananas will take on the Party Animals on July 10 at the home of the Chicago Bears. Banana Ball made its Chicago debut in 2025 with two games at the home of the White Sox, then visited the Friendly Confines for three games
More Top Picks Best Microdermabrasion Machines
last summer.The 2027 tour also is stopping in South Bend., Ind., for a pair of June events — including the first-ever baseball game to be played at Notre Dame Stadium.
On June 26, Banana Ball will add another tweak at the historic Fighting Irish football venue with “Banana Ball 360,” with two baseball fields positioned on opposite corners of the stadium and teams switching fields every inning.
Two days before that game, the tour will stop at Frank Eck Stadium, home to Notre Dame baseball. The Bananas will play the Texas Tailgaters in both games in South Bend.
And Banana Ball is going international for the first time next year with games scheduled in Canada and Mexico. In all, the six-team league will be played in 23 Major League Baseball stadiums and 10 football stadiums in 2027, owner Jessie Cole announced Thursday night.
The schedule announced on ESPN2 includes stops in Monterrey, Mexico, on Feb. 5-6 and in Tijuana, Mexico, on Feb. 12-13. The Banana Ball schedule also includes Aug. 14-15 dates at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and two games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Aug. 26 and Aug. 28.
“This was 10 years in the making,” Cole said of the international dates.
And while the Cubs and White Sox won’t be hosting Banana Ball at their big-league venues next year, the tour is visiting their minor-league parks:
- Cubs: March 18-20 at Pelicans Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C., home of their Class A affiliate; June 4-5 at Covenant Health Park in Knoxville, Tenn., home of their Double-A affiliate; and June 25-26 at Principal Park in Des Moines, home of their Triple-A affiliate.
- White Sox: March 12-13 at Regions Field in Birmingham, Ala., home of their Double-A affiliate; and April 9-10 at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C., home of their Triple-A affiliate; and
Cole told The Associated Press he couldn’t have imagined the popularity of Banana Ball when he launched the Savannah Bananas in 2016. He added five teams for the 2026 schedule.
The original idea was to generate fan interest for baseball at historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Ga.
“We were just starting to sell tickets and trying to get off the air bed we were sleeping on,” Cole said.
In 2023, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., opened an exhibit for the Savannah Bananas. The exhibit was recognition of Cole’s success attracting younger fans who enjoy such shenanigans as a pitcher throwing the ball while on stilts and outs being counted when a fan catches a foul ball in the stands.
Cole also announced Disney has produced a film documenting the growth of the Savannah Bananas and Banana Ball. The film will debut at Atlanta’s Truist Park on June 12.
Cole expects the 2027 tour to draw an estimated 4.3 million fans.