Last week's launch of Banana Ball Championship League has spurred a significant upgrade of production facilities
The Savannah Bananas, arguably the hottest property is all of sports these days, have come a long way since their debut in 2016. After attracting more than 2 million fans and selling out 17 MLB stadiums last year, Banana Ball is expanding significantly this year with the launch of the Banana Ball Championship League.
The six-team league - which adds the Indianapolis Clowns and the Loco Beach Coconuts to the existing four clubs - will bring its traveling circus to 75 stadiums in 70 cities across 45 states, including 14 MLB parks and 10 football stadiums, as part to the 2026 Banana Ball World Tour.
The Savannah Bananas and Banana Ball have become a nationwide phenomenon in recent years.It's a massive increase in terms of live game coverage and hours of content, which presents a unique opportunity - and challenge - for the Banana Ball TV production and engineering teams tasked with creating broadcasts from a wide variety of venues. BTV was already a well-oiled machine, running remote productions largely from two control rooms in Savannah, GA. This year, those facilities were significantly upgraded and expanded to meet the increased production demands of the new Banana Ball Championship League.
It's an honor and a privilege to make a broadcast happen in so many different places each week, allowing fans to see Banana Ball, possibly for the first time, says Mitch Rubenstein, head of production services, Banana Ball TV. It's a dream TV scenario: a full stadium full of passionate, engaged fans; players willing and wanting to be a part of the broadcast; and non-stop entertainment and athletic moments you don't see anywhere else.
Banana Ball Championship League 101: How It Works
All four teams from last season - Savannah Bananas, Party Animals, Firefighters, and Texas Tailgaters - will join the Clowns and Coconuts in the inaugural year of the Banana Ball Championship League.
The 2026 Banana Ball World Tour launched last weekend in Tallahassee, FL, where Florida State's Dick Howser Stadium (baseball) and Doak Campbell Stadium (football) played host to the Banana Ball Championship League debut.
The Indianapolis Clowns are one of two new teams launched this year for the start of the Banana Ball League ChampionshipThis season, every team will play a 60-game schedule to determine who advances to the postseason, in which three cities will host Banana Ball games on 25 weekends. A new in-season tournament - the Banana Ball Open at Savannah's historic Grayson Stadium - has been added to the schedule in April, the winner claiming one of the four playoff spots to play October Banana Ball for the Banana Cup trophy.
That is what has changed, Rubenstein says, referring to the expanded roster and schedule. What hasn't changed is our commitment to our fans to broadcast every game for free on YouTube, along with our great partners at ESPN and The CW to name two, with more to be announced soon for this season.
Including our Spring Training, he continues, we are getting very close to needing the ability to broadcast 200 games in a lot of different places. We play two- or three-game series Thursday to Sunday, which means we have over 40 dates where we have three games going on at or near the same time.
As part of their 2025 World Tour, Banana Ball played inside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, home of the Carolina Panthers.BBCL Demand: More Games Means More Production Gear
As one might expect, more games in more locations requires more production equipment, in-house staff, and crews. Thankfully, Jesse Cole, founder, Fans First Entertainment/owner, Banana Ball Championship League, has committed to invest $13 million into broadcast equipment and facilities.
That's what has allowed all of this to be possible, says Rubenstein. Both Jesse and President Jared Orton knew that our small broadcast department needed to grow in all areas.
Banana TV relies heavily on its control rooms in Fans First Entertainment's Bee Road Home Offices, next to Grayson Field.That effort began with the hiring of Josh Richardson as executive producer at the end of last year and the hiring of three full-time producers and three full-time directors for this season. The production team also brought in full-time graphics designers and moved staff from seasonal to year-round to accommodate the extra volume.
Meanwhile, Rubenstein and his team were tasked with developing a prioritized list of what needed to be done to provide an upgraded, innovative, and consistent-quality broadcast across all three shows every weekend.
Initial focus was on the control rooms in FFE's Bee Road Home Offices, next to Grayson Field. Next came vendor meetings, budget planning and approval, establishing timelines, and purchasing. Then came delivery, integration, training, which led to implementation and now execution.
It was a four-month turnaround, notes Rubenstein. In our world, that's part of a daily year-round quest to improve and upgrade our shows and create a better viewing experience for our fans.
At Home in Savannah: Control Rooms Handle More Volume
BTV relies on its Savannah-based production facility, which features REMI control rooms for live game broadcasts. BTV Head of Engineering Sean McCluskey and his team worked to upgrade these facilities, including the addition of 13 Haivision Encoders to provide paths for the 52 feeds required to serve all the REMI productions.
Banana TV added 13 Haivision encoders to provide paths for the 52 feeds required to serve all the REMI productions.On the audio side, three Calrec Argo and three Calrec Type R audio consoles were added. Also implemented were four EVS XT VIA production servers (totaling 48 record channels), equipped with
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Last week's launch of Banana Ball Championship League has spurred a significant upgrade of production facilities
