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re: Is Banana Ball More Popular Than College Baseball?
Posted on 6/21/26 at 1:46 pm to civiltiger07
Posted on 6/21/26 at 1:46 pm to civiltiger07
quote:
No, see tv viewership.
What are you talking about?
The game yesterday was on ESPN. The game today is on ESPN. Lots of banana games are televised. A MUCH higher percentage of Banana games are televised on ESPN than are college baseball games.
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Posted on 6/21/26 at 1:53 pm to captdalton
quote:How do you compare a niche comedy "baseball" event with dozens of games on ESPN, 2, News, U, +, SECN, SECN+, ACCN, on and on and on. Have you ever tried to find your college game on the ESPN app? You have to scroll through dozens of games all times of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.
The game yesterday was on ESPN. The game today is on ESPN. Lots of banana games are televised. A MUCH higher percentage of Banana games are televised on ESPN than are college baseball games.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 1:59 pm to captdalton
Bama fans 
They only care about football and cooking meth
Banana Ball is a gimmick, nothing more
They only care about football and cooking meth
Banana Ball is a gimmick, nothing more
This post was edited on 6/21/26 at 2:01 pm
Posted on 6/21/26 at 2:15 pm to Diamondawg
quote:
How do you compare a niche comedy "baseball" event with dozens of games on ESPN, 2, News, U, +, SECN, SECN+, ACCN, on and on and on. Have you ever tried to find your college game on the ESPN app? You have to scroll through dozens of games all times of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.
The vast majority of Alabama games I have watched this year were only available streaming through the ESPN app. That is despite having Disney/ESPN/Paramount + subscriptions. Very few people are willing to pay for all the niche SEC networks unless they are extreme fans.
If you are just scrolling on cable TV you are much more likely to find a banana’s game on than a specific college game. Or any regular season college game.
It doesn’t surprise me that a Mississippi State fan would pay for all the subscriptions needed to scroll through dozens of games all times of the day on Saturdays and Sundays. Mississippi State and LSU have the two most passionate baseball fanbases in the country. They don’t represent the majority. Most people don’t have access to all these games because they don’t care enough to pay for it. For a lot of casual fans if it isn’t on a major network, ESPN, or ESPN2 it might as well not exist.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 2:27 pm to Godawgs4
quote:
Yes they sell out a stadium but would they sell out the same stadium for 30 games like a college team?
Here was 2026 home attendance.
The known 2026 overall home attendance figures for SEC baseball programs include:
Mississippi State: 340,759 (11,750 average)
LSU: 332,527 (11,084 average)
Ole Miss: 283,367 (9,446 average)
Arkansas: 270,384 (9,657 average)
South Carolina: 209,394 (6,544 average)
Tennessee: 208,451 (6,317 average)
Florida: 184,320 (5,946 average)
Auburn: 163,455 (5,838 average)
Texas A&M: 153,942 (5,921 average)
Georgia: 97,851
Kentucky: 95,693
Oklahoma: 84,299
Missouri: 35,626
Vanderbilt, Texas, and Alabama: Final complete season figures for 2026 are not publicly available in centralized databases at this time, but they historically rank among the upper-middle tiers
The Savannah Banana’s will host over 2 million fans this season. Heck, 102,000 people watched the game at Kyle Field. That was more than the season attendance of the SEC champs or the SEC team playing in the CWS finals.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 2:29 pm to captdalton
quote:If you have a TV provider that has ESPN the app is free. The only subscription is for ESPN+ or whatever they call it now. We had very few games on Plus until the tournaments started.
It doesn’t surprise me that a Mississippi State fan would pay for all the subscriptions needed to scroll through dozens of games all times of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 2:35 pm to Diamondawg
quote:
If you have a TV provider that has ESPN the app is free. The only subscription is for ESPN+ or whatever they call it now.
That is why the first two sentences of my reply were:
quote:
The vast majority of Alabama games I have watched this year were only available streaming through the ESPN app. That is despite having Disney/ESPN/Paramount + subscriptions
Most casual fans are not streaming college baseball games through an app, they are picking something to watch from the TV guide for whatever service they have. And they won’t find many college baseball games until the post season.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 3:13 pm to captdalton
quote:I have fiber internet at home a Starlink at the farm. With decent bandwidth, the ESPN app is breeze to bounce around multiple games. Now if you are still on dial up, I can see your frustration. And often times, I have 2 tvs streaming.
Most casual fans are not streaming college baseball games through an app, they are picking something to watch from the TV guide for whatever service they have. And they won’t find many college baseball games until the post season.
This post was edited on 6/21/26 at 3:14 pm
Posted on 6/21/26 at 3:29 pm to captdalton
When the circus was in town it would sell out too but nobody wants to watch the circus 35 times in 4 months.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 3:46 pm to captdalton
quote:We have had tons of rain this week with a lot of flooding including flash flooding has gotten serious. It's out of our ABC affiliate viewing audience but they have scrolling with a map right over the scores and stuff. I switched to the ESPN app and it's perfect.
Most casual fans are not streaming college baseball games through an app, they are picking something to watch from the TV guide for whatever service they have. And they won’t find many college baseball games until the post season.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 6:08 pm to captdalton
Unfortunately, yes. Banana bowl is huge. College baseball is not as popular nationwide as we may think. It really comes down to college football and men’s basketball.
Posted on 6/21/26 at 7:13 pm to Vecchio Cane
quote:Isnt the entire reason they started traveling because they were constantly selling out Savannah?
ive them a 50 game home schedule & I’d bet their average attendance wouldn’t be in the top half of the SEC
I think they would crush SEC attendance figures
This post was edited on 6/21/26 at 7:14 pm
Posted on 6/21/26 at 8:13 pm to captdalton
The OP was whether it’s more popular than college baseball. The answer is a definitive “yes”. I wouldn’t go but it’s definitely more popular.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 12:31 pm to captdalton
when their schtick dries up it'll go away, its getting pretty repetitive now.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 12:34 pm to LSU in the Boro
Banana ball is a novelty act just like the Harlan Globetrotters back in the 60@70s.Its family fun geared more to kids and gives people family time.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 2:55 pm to SECCaptain
What are you six?
Posted on 6/22/26 at 3:20 pm to Champagne
College baseball is BELOW "A-Level" minor league professional baseball
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I disagree - college baseball as played at the highest levels is more like AA-AAA minors. Average may be A, but the best are better than that.
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I disagree - college baseball as played at the highest levels is more like AA-AAA minors. Average may be A, but the best are better than that.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 3:24 pm to captdalton
quote:
The Savannah Banana’s will host over 2 million fans this season.
Okay; but they’re not exactly competing for viewership or attendance… this would be like comparing a single college team to the Harlem Globetrotters. It’s honestly an apples to oranges comparison.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 3:34 pm to skrayper
quote:
It’s honestly an apples to oranges comparison.
Not when someone decides to spend their time and/or money on going to a banana ball game instead of a college baseball game.
Baseball in general is competing against apples, oranges, watermelons, spring break, summer break and a whole host of other activities for viewers.
Posted on 6/22/26 at 3:48 pm to captdalton
quote:
Not when someone decides to spend their time and/or money on going to a banana ball game instead of a college baseball game.
How many banana ball games are nearby that you can reasonably attend?
Also should note that half their games are played after college baseball season has ended.
But let's look at it from specifically a "state of Alabama" example:
Are you telling me you're not going to attend any Alabama or Auburn games because of that game in March in Montgomery... or the one in Birmingham that isn't until September?
Saying you won't attend ANY games for your college team because of banana ball is like saying you wouldn't go see any movies because you went to ComicCon.
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