December 10, 2025 • 35 mins
What if a sports team stopped selling your attention and started earning your trust? We sit down with Emily Cole, whose company, Fans First Entertainment, owns the Savannah Bananas, to unpack how putting fans first can flip an entire industry. From all-in ticket pricing and ad-free outfields to a face-value resale platform that prioritizes local families, Emily shows how clear principles lead to bold choices and unforgettable nights.
We explore what “partnership” means when logos aren’t plastered on every wall and value flows to the guest first. Culture sits at the core: hiring for hungry, humble, and smart creates a team that thrives on autonomy, learns relentlessly, and treats every city with care. Emily’s quiet moments during every national anthem become a compass for the work; thousands choosing to spend their time and money with you is a responsibility, not a metric.
Beyond the field, we dive into Bananas Foster, their joy-first initiative that celebrates foster families at every game, turning applause into awareness and action through local connections. And because they love doing the opposite of normal, the Bananas even bring fans together at sea with a multi-day cruise designed for deeper community. Along the way, Emily addresses misconceptions about “overnight” success, why they keep prices accessible despite demand, and how measuring people served beats watching the bank balance.
If you’re craving a roadmap for fan experience, meaningful partnerships, and community that lasts, this conversation delivers play-by-play insight. Follow and share the show, and leave a review so more curious fans can find it.
Recorded Tuesday, December 9th, 2025
Hosts: Damian Bazadona, CEO & Founder, Situation & Maureen Andersen, President & CEO, INTIX
Guest: Emily Cole, Founder, Fans First Entertainment & Owner, The Savannah Bananas
Producer: Peter Yagecic, Innovation Advisor, Situation
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peter Yagecic (00:04):
You're listening to Fandom Unpacked from
Situation and Intix, the podcastseries where we unpack modern
fandom with some of thebrightest minds in sports and
entertainment.
It's pre-holiday cold season,but I am still producer Peter
Yajisic, and I am hermeticallysealed in my own recording
booth.
Joining me for today's QA areSituation CEO and founder,
Damien Basadana, and presidentand CEO of Intix, Maureen
(00:24):
Anderson.
Our guest today is Emily Cole.
Her company, FanFirstEntertainment, owns the Savannah
Bananas, the baseball teamthat's been electrifying fans
across the country for nearly adecade by answering the simple
question what if people thatlove baseball can come out and
have fun?
She and her husband Jesse havebeen writing their own rule book
ever since.
I'm going to be back in a bitto ask Emily some listener
questions, sent intofandomunpack.com.
(00:46):
Damien, how about throwing outthe first pitch?
Damian Bazadona (00:49):
Emily, a lot of our previous guests, and I mean
a lot, have pointed to theSavannah Bananas as the example
of getting fandom right.
And enough to make you blush.
When you hear that from theoutside, how do you describe
what you've built and who yourfans are?
Emily Cole (01:09):
Well, it's it's such a compliment to hear that.
And honestly, the way that welook at ourselves, you know, we
don't have it all figured outyet.
But what I will say is the nameof the company is Fans First
Entertainment.
And that is our North Star, andthat is who we serve, and that
is who we think about and obsessabout every single day.
And I think just by keeping itthat clearly that we are able to
(01:31):
think about the fans and getfandom right, as they say, uh,
whether we're at a stadium of5,000 people or 105,000 people,
that's who we're there to serve,and we never waver from that.
Damian Bazadona (01:43):
So your mantra is fans first, entertainment
always.
How does that show up in realdecision making?
In what is typically, I wouldsay the live event business is
it's a limited supply business.
Maximize the moment, charge asmuch as you can when you can,
because you don't know how longthis magical lasts for.
Walk us, can you just walk usthrough?
How about walk us through arecent moment where you had to
(02:04):
say no to something thatprobably would be pretty
profitable, but it wasn't trulyfan first.
Emily Cole (02:10):
Yeah, I think it's it's become almost simple for us
to look at it through this lensof what is fans first?
And so every decision that wemake, we pretend that there's a
fan in the room with us comingup with the solution for them.
And so by using that lens, itreally is simple to come up with
these things that are fansfirst.
We look at the friction pointthat a fan or a guest has
(02:32):
someplace and we just workbackwards from there.
Is it hard to call and get ahuman to talk to?
Is it hard to find informationon a website?
You know, we start with thoseeasy friction points and we work
backwards from there.
One of the big recentdecisions, I guess, that we
could talk about is our idea ofnot having the typical
sponsorship packages for ourteam.
(02:54):
As a sporting event or as anentertainment venue, a
sponsorship is normally veryfront and center.
It is very obvious.
And for us, again, we stoppedand looked at the friction
points of a fan's experience atvenues.
Most people are not going tothose venues to look at an
outfield littered withadvertisements.
And so we said, okay, we'regoing to move away from that.
(03:16):
We are going to have a clearoutfield wall.
In fact, we're going to go theother way and we're going to
have a fan wall.
And so now our fans actuallywalk on the warning track and
they go out and they sign ouroutfield wall so that they are a
piece of history.
They are a part of that game.
And so really it's just lookingat these little friction points
that add up as the consumer toa point where we're frustrated
or we're getting nickel anddimed at an event.
(03:37):
And we try to erase all ofthose friction points so that
people are truly just there toexperience uh, you know, the
game or the event or whateverthat they're there to see.
So that's the lens that we use.
And I think by simplifying itlike that, it helps us stay on
brand and put our fans first.
Damian Bazadona (03:53):
Well, what would an example look like?
Because I'm sure on I'm surethere's people listening right
now that would love to becomesome version of a sponsor with
you.
Like what could a sponsorshiplook like in in your eyes that
that is kind of uh a one plusone equals three for the
experience?
Emily Cole (04:10):
Yeah.
So first of all, we will onlyuse the word partnership, not
sponsorship, because for us,it's truly looking at it as a
partnership.
So if somebody comes to us andthey say we want to be involved,
the only way we would evenconsider it is if our fans win.
And so again, looking at anoutfield wall, we don't feel
like the fan is winning byhaving a big advertisement out
(04:32):
on the wall or having asponsored PA read.
We as the team would bebenefiting from a dollar
standpoint, but the fan wouldnot be benefiting.
So if somebody comes to us andsays, Hey, we know that your
fans line up at nine in themorning, they tailgate all day,
they come early for theseevents.
We want to come and provide atno cost to them and no work to
them this item or this drink orwhatever it is.
(04:55):
So if people are waiting allday long in the sun, waiting for
our gates to open for ourevent, and a true partner says,
I want to come in and take careof these people.
We are just going to hand outthese things for them.
That's a partnership we couldwe would consider, right?
So the business gets to get infront of those people, sure, but
they are really just givingvalue to the person who is
(05:15):
waiting in line who is going tocome to an event, anyways.
So that's the only type ofpartnership, really, that we
would consider is do our fanswin completely in this situation
with this partnership?
Damian Bazadona (05:27):
I really wish uh movie theaters would follow
this.
I feel like the idea of, youknow, total intrusion with brand
sponsorship, you spit there forabout 35 minutes before then
the movie finally starts.
Um, can I ask you a questionthat I know will make you blush,
but I but I do ask it bydesign, and I think it's
actually very important.
How do you internalize all thesuccess that you've had?
And I ask that because I wouldsay that this comes out of left
(05:50):
field.
Um I I would say that yourbrand, it's like the number of
people in the live eventbusiness that like look to it
and are just completely inspiredwhat you've done.
And you're selling at YankeeStadium, I just in my local area
here.
Like, you gotta sort of lookaround sometimes and just go, I
are you surprised by thesuccess?
Emily Cole (06:10):
I would say that everybody in our organization is
extremely humble.
When when people compliment usor they say you guys have made
it, we don't see it like that.
We see ourselves as being inthe first inning.
And so when you're trying toachieve greatness and you're
growing, that's what you'rethinking about.
There's no time for us to sitback and rest on our laurels.
(06:31):
There's no time to sit back andjust look at all the success
around us and not be workingtowards the next thing.
Our responsibility is tocontinue serving our fans to the
best of our ability.
It's to come up with the mostcreative, most fun, most
experiential things for ourfans.
And so when that stays as ourmain goal, we don't sit back and
(06:52):
say, oh, we've made it, we'vefigured it all out.
We know for sure that wehaven't.
We are a very youngorganization.
There are lots and lots ofbrands who have been around for,
you know, tons of years andexperiences themselves that we
can learn from, thesegenerational companies that we
have to look up to.
And so I think it's really justhaving that mindset.
It would be dangerous for us toget into a spot of, oh, we've
(07:14):
made it, puff out our chest,look at us.
Because once we get to thatpoint, I don't think the main
thing would be the main thinganymore, which is continuing to
find more ways to entertain ourpeople.
And that would be scary.
And so I think just by stayinghumble and saying we have a lot
of room to grow, we have a lotof improvements that we can make
by considering that we arestill in the first inning.
(07:36):
It's not a place where we aredangerously uh too cocky, I
think.
And so when people do say thosethings to us, it almost takes
us, it almost, it almost knocksus off guard because we don't,
we don't think we have itfigured out yet.
We don't think we're that we'rethe best at it yet.
We're not.
Damian Bazadona (07:52):
Uh listen, I have great admiration for the
simplicity of your mission andhow focused you remain on it.
Uh Maureen, let me go, let youget in.
Maureen Andersen (08:01):
Cool.
Thank you.
Um I was curious about theticketing and pricing
standpoint.
Is, you know, that's a bigtopic in the industry these
days.
And you have, you know,arguably, you know, this huge
family fan base.
And you've made some, you'vebucked the system and you've
made some unconventional choicesover the years to really try
and keep things simple and fanfriendly.
(08:23):
Can you talk a little bit abouthow prices and fees and values
uh are all put through thatfan's first lens, especially
that the price and fee scenario?
And then I'd also like toisn't, you know, is to ask
about, you know, you creating anew closed loop environment of
the secondary marketannouncement that you all made
about uh about 10 days ago.
Emily Cole (08:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
It really started with this.
When we first launched theorganization, we said, how can
we not nickel and dime our fans?
That's what they're used to.
Fans are used to being nickeland dimed at events.
You pay for parking, you payfor the hot dog, you pay for the
beer.
It's it's cost after cost aftercost.
Or if you buy something online,there's a there's a convenience
fee, there's a shipping fee,there's all these extra fees
(09:05):
that add on to your tickets,right?
And so from the very beginning,before we even launched the
Savannah Bananas in Savannah in2015, we said, how can we make
this such a value-packed thingfor people that they have to go
try it out?
It there's really no risk forthem to go to go check us out at
least once.
And we knew once we had themthere, there was going to be so
(09:26):
much value that they would wantto come back.
So when we launched theSavannah Bananas for the first
time, we created theall-inclusive ticket.
So, still to this day, all ofour tickets in Savannah, Georgia
include all of your hot dogs,hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
chicken sandwiches, soda,popcorn, water, dessert.
Because we want kids to be ableto get up and go to the
(09:46):
concession stand without saying,Mom and dad, can I have another
$10 bill?
Can I spend another $20?
Can I have the credit card?
We didn't want to have thosenickel and dime moments.
And so from the very beginning,I think that hopefully makes it
clear that the value has beensuch a big focus for us and
taking out that friction pointof the added cost.
And we've just evolved that andcontinued that over the years.
(10:07):
All of our shipping for all ofour merchandise, which has
become a massive part of ourbusiness, is free shipping
around the whole country.
It's just we've never hadshipping fees.
Why would we add that on?
The convenience fees whenyou're buying tickets.
There's nothing convenientabout that.
So when people buy our tickets,it is the price that they see.
That is the ticket price.
We are hearing more and morethat we should go up on tickets.
(10:30):
That's why there's so muchdemand is that because that
they're so affordable.
Um, and I think that that'sjust the price we're willing to
pay is to hear that from peoplebecause the last thing we want
to do is gouge people.
We want families to be able tocome to these games.
We are keeping it as affordableas we can for families to come
out.
And that's something that we'regonna continue forever.
Uh, to speak to this newsecondary market issue.
(10:53):
Yes, there is a supply anddemand issue right now.
We are so grateful to have over40 million people on a wait
list.
But with over 4 million peopleon a wait list and not playing
in front of that many peoplelive, there is a supply and
demand issue.
We understand that.
And so unfortunately, we areseeing that sometimes in human
(11:14):
nature, there are people whowill look out for themselves and
try to win on uh, you know,somebody else's behalf.
And so we have tickets that arebeing sold on secondary markets
for three, four, five timeswhat we sell them for.
Obviously, we don't get anypart of that.
Individuals are just makingthousands of dollars on these
(11:35):
tickets that are being scalped.
And so it's not the perfectsolution, but it is a quick
solution that we can implementthis year.
We have been building behindthe scenes another ticket
platform, our own secondarymarket, so that the fan, the
local fan can help another localfan.
That's the whole premise isthat people in this fan's first
family are just gonna continueto take care of each other.
(11:57):
And if it only takes care of10% of people, at least it takes
care of another 10% of people,right?
In this first year, as welaunch this.
We want somebody to say, oh,you know, a wedding popped up in
our life and we can no longergo to this game, but I want to
help take care of another fan.
I'm not gonna go gouge somebodyon a different secondary market
and make five times what I paidfor the tickets.
I just want to help anotherlocal family similar to mine in
(12:19):
whatever city.
And so I'm gonna list them onthe fans first secondary website
and they will be able to buythem at the same exact price.
So we are now eating the costagain of selling tickets.
We are not making anything onthat.
We're actually paying morebecause of the charges and the
platform costs that we had tobuild this.
Um, but that's fans first.
(12:40):
And so again, it was a simpledecision for us to make to
invest in this platform thatwe're building, is because we
believe we can take care of morefans at that simple pricing.
So, yeah, a lot of thoughtsaround all pricing and fees and
ticket platforms, but it issomething that we're very
intentional about, somethingthat we're thinking about all
the time is how to continue totake care of people in that
(13:02):
aspect.
Maureen Andersen (13:03):
It's interesting because it's it's um
with the whole concept of thepricing and that you had all in
pricing, you know, long beforethe rest of the industry got
mandated by, you know, FTC lawsand rules and things like that.
So, you know, talk aboutbucking it.
It's great.
Um, we have a lot of intics andticketing pros who who tune in
and who work in the traditionalvenues that you all are coming
(13:27):
into.
And you had talked earlierabout reducing the friction
points.
As you come into these of thesevenues who may not have um as
robust of a fan first concept orvalue proposition, what would
be a small operational changethat you think that these venues
could realistically make thesystem, this season, excuse me,
(13:50):
that would move them closer to adeeper partnership and
engagement with a fur fans firstexperience?
Emily Cole (13:57):
Yeah, that's something that we think about
all the time, right?
We're in a new community, a newvenue every single week.
And so we have learned bydoing.
We have jumped in and had a newrelationship with a new group
every single week over the lastcouple of years.
And so we've learned a lotabout how different operators
operate and the pros and cons.
I think that it all comes backto the communication and being
(14:20):
on the same page.
We are so intentional aboutgoing ahead of time on site
visits and working with thesepeople and making sure that the
security team is on the samepage as the food and bev team.
They're on the same page as ourteam and our entertainment.
We're on the same page with thegroundskeepers.
There's so many differentplayers in this to make one of
our events work seamlessly,right?
(14:42):
We're going into somebodyelse's home and we're bringing
hundreds of people and we'redoing things on a ball field
that have never been donebefore.
And so there can be a lot ofnaysayers.
There can be a lot of, hold on,what's gonna happen?
This is our home.
You're coming onto our turf.
And so we try to do site visitsyears ahead of time.
We try to talk to these groupsyears ahead of time.
(15:03):
I mean, when people realize, orif people realize that when we
announce our schedule, we'veprobably been in communication
with a lot of these groups foryears because a lot goes into
this.
And we do have to make surethat it's a fans first decision
to go to these places.
There have been a lot of venuesthat we have turned down.
They might have been the bestoffers monetarily, but if they
(15:23):
were not gonna be the best fansfirst decision for our fans,
we've turned those venues down.
And that's been an interestingpart of our growth is you know,
you have this very beautiful,shiny thing in front of you, and
you have to walk away from itbecause it's not gonna be the
best decision, because securityis not gonna let you do a
certain thing, or groundskeepersaren't gonna let a single
(15:44):
person on the field besides yourplayers, or you know, whatever
it might be.
Um, and so that's somethingthat that communication early
really has to come into play,and that makes sure that we're
gonna have a successful event.
Maureen Andersen (15:59):
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Hey, uh Peter, I think you'vegot an audience question.
Peter Yagecic (16:39):
Yeah, I'd love to sneak in a listener question.
Uh and first of all, Emily,congratulations on all your
success.
And I love that you said thatyou're you're just in the first
inning.
Uh, I can't wait to see uhwhere you guys go from here.
The listener question I wantedto ask you first was thinking
back uh on you know when youstarted to now, was there a
(16:59):
single fan interaction or gamemoment when you thought, okay,
this is this is bigger thanbaseball now?
Anything that stick out to you?
Emily Cole (17:07):
My first thought goes to the national anthem
every night.
We are so go, go, go all thetime.
I mean, morning, noon, andnight, 24 hours a day, 365.
I feel like we're running,right?
Because we are still a startup.
And so that's what you do inyour startup phase.
You're running, you'regrinding, you're growing.
Um, but the national anthem atevery game I've been at has
(17:29):
always moved me to tears becauseit's the one time of day that I
have to stand still.
And I look around and I am justin awe of the amount of people
who chose to spend theirentertainment dollars and spend
their Saturday night with us.
And that moves me.
That moves me to tears.
And it moves me in a way that Iwant to continue to get better
(17:51):
for them, for every single fanthat's in the building that
night.
Um, and so that's a moment thathappens fortunately every night
that I get to slow down andlook around at what we've built
and just want to continue to getbetter for them.
It's one of my favorite momentsof every game because it
doesn't happen often and it'stwo minutes, usually more or
less.
And um, it's just a beautiful,a beautiful moment for us to
(18:14):
slow down in this startup phase.
Damian Bazadona (18:16):
How do you approach recruiting and
nurturing talent, both on thefield, but also in the stands,
the back office, and you have a,I think, a very distinct
culture.
Are there specific traits orexpectations you have in new
hires?
Just if you could take usthrough that process, I'd love
it.
Emily Cole (18:33):
Well, first I will say in the beginning, nobody
wanted to work for us.
Okay, so it's easy to look atus now and say, oh, they're so
much fun.
Everybody wants to work there.
But man, it was pulling teethin the very beginning.
You know, it was uh this newunusual thing that people didn't
understand.
And so trying to recruit forthat was very difficult.
I remember the first time wehad a dance uh choreographer
(18:54):
come to practice and they weregoing to teach our players some
dance moves, and it was not wellreceived.
I mean, most of the guys leftthe field uh because they're
like, this is not baseball.
This is not me.
This is not what I signed upfor.
And so I just want to put thatinto perspective because now it
is easy to say, oh, we have12,000 people on a wait list to
work for us.
That is mind-blowing.
(19:15):
That is crazy, and we're sograteful for that, but it wasn't
always like that.
And so we have just stayed verytrue to who we are and who we
want to surround ourselves with.
The people who are joining ourorganization, they are lifelong
learners.
And I mean that in every, inevery way.
It's not just the people whowork in the front office, it's
(19:37):
the players, it's the castmembers, it's the people who
want to reinvent themselves,it's the people who want to
grind, it's the people who wewant down in the trenches with
us because we're still there.
Again, from the outside, peoplethink that we have it all
figured out and that we're thismassively successful company.
And in some senses, we are, butwe still look at ourselves as
the rookie, the person who needsto prove themselves.
(19:59):
And so we're looking for thosepeople who want to have that
same tenacity or who do havethat same tenacity to go after
in life, you know, to betterthemselves personally and
professionally.
We do a book club as a group.
And one of the most recentbooks that we read was The Ideal
Team Player by Pat Lincioni.
And what stuck out to me inthat book is finding people who
(20:23):
are hungry, humble, and smart.
And when I look back at how wehired, those are three things
that very much stick out to us.
The intelligence level just hasto be there.
There's so much autonomy in ourcompany because we work in lots
of different cities at alltimes.
And so somebody has to beintelligent enough to just make
decisions.
You're not going to havesomebody looking over your
shoulder at all times.
(20:43):
But the hungry and humblereally come into play once
you're in the role because webelieve that we are still in the
first inning, like I said.
And so you have to have thehunger to grow because that's
where the company is going.
And so when you have leadershipsaying, we don't have it all
figured out, we don't want to bethe smartest people in any room
that we're ever in, we'recontinuously trying to surround
(21:05):
ourselves with brilliant,thought-provoking leaders.
We read, we listen to podcasts,we share articles, we're
watching videos constantly as acompany.
And so just that hunger to getbetter and then the ability to
stay humble while we're growingand say, you know, we have all
these accolades or peopletelling us we're doing a good
job or 12,000 people waiting towork with us or 4 million people
(21:26):
waiting to come to a game.
I mean, that can go to yourhead.
But we are very intentional atsaying we do not know everything
yet.
We are still learning.
There are so many people aroundus that we can learn from.
So those are some of thequalities that we look for.
Um, but yeah, it's interestingbecause from a staff standpoint,
from a cast standpoint, from aplayer standpoint, all of these
(21:46):
people are doing differentthings for our fans.
But at the end of the day, theyhave to be fans first in
whatever capacity that means.
And so we're looking for just areally great human on top of
all those other things.
We're looking for the personthat just instinctively bends
down and picks up the piece oftrash, or instinctively reaches
for grandma's hand and helps herwalk in the gates as she's uh,
(22:06):
you know, maybe stumbling up thesteps.
It's just a person that we wantto be around.
Uh, and that's our culture isvery important to us.
So I could talk all day aboutour culture.
It's something that means a lotto me.
And I think it's one of oursecret sauces.
I think that if we stay focusedon that, we'll be okay as a
company.
Damian Bazadona (22:22):
Yeah, no, I agree.
And I like the the hungry andhumble, I think makes a lot of
sense.
Um, and just given all the theguests we've had on this podcast
over the years, longevity iscomplicated in this business.
And so doing that over anextended, continued extended
period of time, and as you gothrough different phases as a
company, um, I I I can't seethat hurting you in any possible
way to kind of keep that withinthe culture, and obviously you
(22:44):
guys do a great job of it.
Uh, Maureen.
Maureen Andersen (22:46):
That's lovely because finding the uh the room
to be the give everybody thegrace to be actually humble is a
really amazing piece.
So which brings me to kind ofwhen you look at your data with
repeat attendance, themembership, the wait lists, all
the metrics over 10 years thatyou all have amassed.
Taking it beyond, you know,it's humanizing the data and
(23:08):
what's really behind the memberthat those numbers is can you
say that your community isgetting stronger and it's not
just about sales?
Emily Cole (23:17):
Oh, 100%.
That's our that's our focus.
I mean, truly, my husband,Jesse and I, we do not know day
to day what's in the bankaccount.
Those are those are not thenumbers that we are focusing on.
But I could tell you the numberof fans we served online and
merchandise.
I could tell you the number offans that are gonna come to each
ballpark.
When we stay focused as acompany on those numbers, the
(23:40):
people who we're serving, Itruly believe that that is gonna
help continue to keep us on theright path.
Maureen Andersen (23:46):
Now that's pretty cool.
I mean, when you look at thethe community, is it's all about
bringing it's being in serviceto a community.
And in this day and age, thatthat's that's above and beyond.
And it's that's what I thinkmakes you really special, is
that you're also bringingfamilies together and supporting
foster care community.
And I was really interested inyour Bananas Foster program.
(24:08):
Could you tell us a little bitmore about how that work came
about and influenced the way youthink about belonging and
caring inside the ballparks andoutside of the ballpark?
Emily Cole (24:19):
Yeah, I love this topic so much because it's so
near and dear to our heart.
My husband and I are fosterparents ourselves.
We have adopted our daughters,two of our daughters out of
foster care and into our family.
And so it's something that hasalways meant a lot to us.
And when you look at thedemographics of our games, it is
mostly families who areattending these games together.
(24:39):
And so when you look at thosethings, something that really
means a lot to our family andthe people who are attending our
games, you know, as we weregrowing, we thought we have this
responsibility.
We are creating a lot of joy inthe world.
And there is something to sayabout that.
But we continued to feel likewith a bigger platform, we had
more responsibility to give inour community.
And when looking at all ofthose things together, it felt
(25:03):
like we were being pulled to dosomething for the foster care
space.
It's this kind of this tabootopic that doesn't get spoken
about a lot.
And so we said, why not us?
It's so near and dear to ourheart.
Um, and not just to me andJesse, but the entire
organization has watched thesegirls grow up in our family.
They have had a front row seatto the changes in their life and
(25:24):
who they are as people and whothey're becoming as young
ladies.
And so it really means a lot toall of us to, you know, better
the foster care system.
And so we were knocking thisidea around for a little while.
And then, of course, my geniushusband one night in the middle
of the night sat up and said,Bananas Foster, I have the best
name.
Um, and from there, it was offto the races because how do you
(25:46):
say no to a name like that?
Right.
So Bananas Foster was born.
Um, and I will say from there,the tricky part started because
we needed to figure out what ourmission was going to be and
what we were going to focus on.
And with many nonprofits, youhave to focus on things like
fundraising and getting scarystatistics out there and
educating people.
And so those are things that wethought we might intertwine
(26:10):
into what we do day to day, butwe wanted to really focus on
staying aligned with who we wereas a company.
And so, as a company, if youthink about Fans First
Entertainment and Banana Ball,we are all about joy and
happiness and laughter andfamily.
And so we wanted to make surethat our nonprofit arm was also
aligned with that and connectedin those ways.
And so we started with thisvision of, hey, let's just
(26:34):
celebrate people in foster care,which is a very backwards way
of thinking because there's nota lot of things to celebrate in
foster care, right?
It's just a hard space.
It's a tough subject.
But if you look hard enough atanything, there are things to
celebrate.
And so sure enough, as we studymore and we look more into this
space, there are families andsocial workers who have been
(26:54):
helping children for decades.
And so we had this lens oflet's just celebrate those
people.
Let's focus on them.
And so that's what we do now atevery single game, whether it's
a very small stadium or a verylarge stadium, we get a local
family or somebody who has madean impact on that local
community's foster care system.
And we celebrate them on thefield and we just tell a little
(27:16):
tidbit of their story, and thecrowd inevitably stands up and
gives them a standing ovation.
And it's just such a beautifulmoment.
Now, we know that this is thisis spinning people's wheels and
this is inspiring and this iseducating people and creating
awareness.
And so it is doing all of thosethings that end up being the
goal of most nonprofits.
(27:36):
But we start it with happiness.
We start it with celebration.
And the most beautiful thingwhen we walk off the field every
night is seeing people from thecrowd come into the stairwells
and come into the aisles and hugthese families and hug the
people who we've justcelebrated.
And they're saying things like,I didn't know this was going on
in our community.
I had no idea.
(27:57):
Thank you so much for servingthese children for your whole
life.
How can I get involved?
It's just just such an organic,beautiful moment and it spurs a
lot of action.
And so we're very happy to bethe connectors in this story.
We're able to then talk to thepeople who want to get involved
and connect them with people inthat local community, whether it
(28:17):
is the foster care closets orthe mentorship programs or the
licensing agencies, whatever itis that people want to get
involved in, we're able toconnect them and then hopefully
bring them into this space.
And then we move on to the nextcity and we do it again and
again.
And so that's a big passion ofmine.
I'm sure you can hear it in myvoice, the way that I talk about
this, but happy to hopefullymake a small mark on the foster
(28:40):
care world and inspire a lot ofpeople, celebrate a lot of, you
know, very unsung heroes.
I mean, Emily, thank you somuch.
Maureen Andersen (28:48):
It's just amazing to have fundraising
turned on its ear as instead of,you know, the the woe is me
plea is that it becomes thejoyful celebration happiness
plea, is that there's so muchthat, you know, we all have
glass half full if we reallyjust turn the you know the
mantra on our heads.
Uh we have a lot of listenersthat are some of your biggest
(29:09):
fans, and I think Peter has uhhas an actual fan question too.
Peter Yagecic (29:13):
I do.
And and this question is from alistener who's actually also a
former fandom unpacked guest,uh, sixth man CEO Jeff Quayar,
who uh connected us with HughEmily, actually.
And when we interviewed him afew months ago, he talked about
the banana boat experience thatyour fans uh are gonna have a
chance to do coming up inFebruary, I think.
Um and and his question was uhafter everything the bananas
(29:36):
have accomplished, when peoplesaid it wouldn't work, what
still surprises you and why?
Emily Cole (29:42):
Oh yes.
Great question, Jeff.
Uh first, yeah, the the bananaland at Sea Cruise is something
that was born again because wewanted to serve our fans in a
better way.
As we are going to larger andlarger stadiums, this was a way
for us to try to connect with asmaller group of fans, some of
our biggest fans.
And so we work with Six Man,and it's such a fun project.
(30:04):
And it's something that youwouldn't normally think a
baseball team or a sports teamis gonna do is basically rent
out a cruise ship and throw afour or five day long party.
Um, but that's what we do.
We try to say whatever isnormal, do the exact opposite.
And how can we entertain thesepeople in a different way?
And so very excited to continueto work on that project.
This will be our second timedoing it with Six Man and
(30:27):
excited for that.
But I think day-to-day, whatcontinues to surprise me is the
way that people look at bananaball as this bucket list item.
You know, it's it is easy toget caught up in the day-to-day
for us.
We're in a new city every week,and we're bringing on new
(30:47):
people, and we have orientationsfor new players and staff
members, and you know, we're inthe grind of running a business.
And then we hear from a fanthat this was a Christmas gift
for their kids 12 months ago,and they are now traveling
across the country.
They've bought the merchandise,they've selected the tickets,
they won in the lottery.
This is their bucket list itemfor their family.
(31:11):
Uh, when that, when I hearabout that and when that
actually sits and resonates withme, um, I'm just in awe that we
are that to somebody, you know,because to me, we're just going
about our everyday life tryingto make the world a brighter
place and create a lot of fun.
And sure, I know that thereality is that people want to
come to tickets, come to gamesand get tickets.
(31:32):
I understand that.
But the fact that they're sothey put so much work and time
into it is still a foreignconcept for me and still
something I'm in awe of andsomething I'm so grateful for is
that people just put us up onthis pedestal and and plan their
year around these events.
Uh, it's so, so special.
We're so grateful.
Damian Bazadona (31:52):
Yeah, no, th Emily, thank you so much for the
time.
And, you know, we've beenreally anticipating and looking
forward to this conversation.
Um, so I genuinely appreciateit.
Uh you live your values, uh,and I think that's rare in this
business.
And and one of the things Ireally admire is, you know, we
we talked a lot about it, buthow you bring communities
together, and it it it reallyseems you leave a city in a
(32:14):
better place than when you firstarrived.
Uh, and that's awesome.
Um with all of the presscoverage about the growth and
success, what do people getwrong about your success?
And is there some, you know, isthere something people
misunderstand about the way youapproach your business that that
you think people should know?
Emily Cole (32:35):
Oh gosh.
There's there's so many things.
And this has been a learningcurve for us because we did kind
of catapult into the spotlight.
And, you know, we always justsay, we always say that we're
just a bunch of kids running abaseball team.
And the reality is that's howwe see ourselves still is these
(32:55):
young go-getters.
And we're not as young anymore,we've been doing this for
almost 20 years, but I still saythat because we still see
ourselves as people who are justlearning every day and people
who have a hunger to get better.
And so when you look at thepress coverage and the front
page news and the titles and thearticles that are being
(33:17):
written, um, it is a littledaunting because all of a sudden
everything is being covered.
And of course, nobody knows theinner workings of any business
or family, you know, unlessyou're in those walls.
And so we have to remind ourpeople every day that if we keep
the North Star the North Star,if we continue to serve our fans
(33:39):
and do what's right in thisworld, um, that's all we can do.
And there are going to bethings that are said that are
untrue.
But again, that's thetrade-off, right?
Of being this size and ofhaving four million people
trying to come out to yourevents is somebody is gonna be
upset about something or notlike the decision that was made.
They might not have all thefacts, of course, on how that
(34:01):
decision was made, but they canspeculate and they are gonna be
upset about something and theyhave the right to be.
And so I think that's justwhat's been hard for us is just
catapulting this quickly intothe spotlight and into quote
unquote stardom for a lot of ourpeople who are very young and
most of our team is in theirearly 20s.
Um, and so it's just a lot oflife experience that we are
(34:21):
catching up on or we're doingvery quickly, I guess you could
say, uh, and figuring outtogether.
But very fortunate for thepositive press coverage that we
mostly have and have a goodrelationship with a lot of
media.
So fortunately, we don't haveto deal with much of that.
Peter Yagecic (34:39):
That is gonna do it for this episode of Fandom
Unpacked.
If you liked what you heardtoday, please check out all the
great QA interviews we've doneover at fandomunpack.com, or by
searching Fandom Unpacked andfollowing the series in your
podcast player of choice.
We'd also love for you to rateand review the show while you're
at it.
That really helps us find newfans.
We'll be back in your feed in acouple of weeks with our first
ever Fandom Unpackedretrospective, a look back at
(35:02):
the best moments our guests haveshared with us over the past
year.
We'll see you next time, truebelievers.
You're listening to Fandom Unpacked from
Situation and Intix, the podcastseries where we unpack modern
fandom with some of thebrightest minds in sports and
entertainment.
It's pre-holiday cold season,but I am still producer Peter
Yajisic, and I am hermeticallysealed in my own recording
booth.
Joining me for today's QA areSituation CEO and founder,
Damien Basadana, and presidentand CEO of Intix, Maureen
(00:24):
Anderson.
Our guest today is Emily Cole.
Her company, FanFirstEntertainment, owns the Savannah
Bananas, the baseball teamthat's been electrifying fans
across the country for nearly adecade by answering the simple
question what if people thatlove baseball can come out and
have fun?
She and her husband Jesse havebeen writing their own rule book
ever since.
I'm going to be back in a bitto ask Emily some listener
questions, sent intofandomunpack.com.
(00:46):
Damien, how about throwing outthe first pitch?
Damian Bazadona (00:49):
Emily, a lot of our previous guests, and I mean
a lot, have pointed to theSavannah Bananas as the example
of getting fandom right.
And enough to make you blush.
When you hear that from theoutside, how do you describe
what you've built and who yourfans are?
Emily Cole (01:09):
Well, it's it's such a compliment to hear that.
And honestly, the way that welook at ourselves, you know, we
don't have it all figured outyet.
But what I will say is the nameof the company is Fans First
Entertainment.
And that is our North Star, andthat is who we serve, and that
is who we think about and obsessabout every single day.
And I think just by keeping itthat clearly that we are able to
(01:31):
think about the fans and getfandom right, as they say, uh,
whether we're at a stadium of5,000 people or 105,000 people,
that's who we're there to serve,and we never waver from that.
Damian Bazadona (01:43):
So your mantra is fans first, entertainment
always.
How does that show up in realdecision making?
In what is typically, I wouldsay the live event business is
it's a limited supply business.
Maximize the moment, charge asmuch as you can when you can,
because you don't know how longthis magical lasts for.
Walk us, can you just walk usthrough?
How about walk us through arecent moment where you had to
(02:04):
say no to something thatprobably would be pretty
profitable, but it wasn't trulyfan first.
Emily Cole (02:10):
Yeah, I think it's it's become almost simple for us
to look at it through this lensof what is fans first?
And so every decision that wemake, we pretend that there's a
fan in the room with us comingup with the solution for them.
And so by using that lens, itreally is simple to come up with
these things that are fansfirst.
We look at the friction pointthat a fan or a guest has
(02:32):
someplace and we just workbackwards from there.
Is it hard to call and get ahuman to talk to?
Is it hard to find informationon a website?
You know, we start with thoseeasy friction points and we work
backwards from there.
One of the big recentdecisions, I guess, that we
could talk about is our idea ofnot having the typical
sponsorship packages for ourteam.
(02:54):
As a sporting event or as anentertainment venue, a
sponsorship is normally veryfront and center.
It is very obvious.
And for us, again, we stoppedand looked at the friction
points of a fan's experience atvenues.
Most people are not going tothose venues to look at an
outfield littered withadvertisements.
And so we said, okay, we'regoing to move away from that.
(03:16):
We are going to have a clearoutfield wall.
In fact, we're going to go theother way and we're going to
have a fan wall.
And so now our fans actuallywalk on the warning track and
they go out and they sign ouroutfield wall so that they are a
piece of history.
They are a part of that game.
And so really it's just lookingat these little friction points
that add up as the consumer toa point where we're frustrated
or we're getting nickel anddimed at an event.
(03:37):
And we try to erase all ofthose friction points so that
people are truly just there toexperience uh, you know, the
game or the event or whateverthat they're there to see.
So that's the lens that we use.
And I think by simplifying itlike that, it helps us stay on
brand and put our fans first.
Damian Bazadona (03:53):
Well, what would an example look like?
Because I'm sure on I'm surethere's people listening right
now that would love to becomesome version of a sponsor with
you.
Like what could a sponsorshiplook like in in your eyes that
that is kind of uh a one plusone equals three for the
experience?
Emily Cole (04:10):
Yeah.
So first of all, we will onlyuse the word partnership, not
sponsorship, because for us,it's truly looking at it as a
partnership.
So if somebody comes to us andthey say we want to be involved,
the only way we would evenconsider it is if our fans win.
And so again, looking at anoutfield wall, we don't feel
like the fan is winning byhaving a big advertisement out
(04:32):
on the wall or having asponsored PA read.
We as the team would bebenefiting from a dollar
standpoint, but the fan wouldnot be benefiting.
So if somebody comes to us andsays, Hey, we know that your
fans line up at nine in themorning, they tailgate all day,
they come early for theseevents.
We want to come and provide atno cost to them and no work to
them this item or this drink orwhatever it is.
(04:55):
So if people are waiting allday long in the sun, waiting for
our gates to open for ourevent, and a true partner says,
I want to come in and take careof these people.
We are just going to hand outthese things for them.
That's a partnership we couldwe would consider, right?
So the business gets to get infront of those people, sure, but
they are really just givingvalue to the person who is
(05:15):
waiting in line who is going tocome to an event, anyways.
So that's the only type ofpartnership, really, that we
would consider is do our fanswin completely in this situation
with this partnership?
Damian Bazadona (05:27):
I really wish uh movie theaters would follow
this.
I feel like the idea of, youknow, total intrusion with brand
sponsorship, you spit there forabout 35 minutes before then
the movie finally starts.
Um, can I ask you a questionthat I know will make you blush,
but I but I do ask it bydesign, and I think it's
actually very important.
How do you internalize all thesuccess that you've had?
And I ask that because I wouldsay that this comes out of left
(05:50):
field.
Um I I would say that yourbrand, it's like the number of
people in the live eventbusiness that like look to it
and are just completely inspiredwhat you've done.
And you're selling at YankeeStadium, I just in my local area
here.
Like, you gotta sort of lookaround sometimes and just go, I
are you surprised by thesuccess?
Emily Cole (06:10):
I would say that everybody in our organization is
extremely humble.
When when people compliment usor they say you guys have made
it, we don't see it like that.
We see ourselves as being inthe first inning.
And so when you're trying toachieve greatness and you're
growing, that's what you'rethinking about.
There's no time for us to sitback and rest on our laurels.
(06:31):
There's no time to sit back andjust look at all the success
around us and not be workingtowards the next thing.
Our responsibility is tocontinue serving our fans to the
best of our ability.
It's to come up with the mostcreative, most fun, most
experiential things for ourfans.
And so when that stays as ourmain goal, we don't sit back and
(06:52):
say, oh, we've made it, we'vefigured it all out.
We know for sure that wehaven't.
We are a very youngorganization.
There are lots and lots ofbrands who have been around for,
you know, tons of years andexperiences themselves that we
can learn from, thesegenerational companies that we
have to look up to.
And so I think it's really justhaving that mindset.
It would be dangerous for us toget into a spot of, oh, we've
(07:14):
made it, puff out our chest,look at us.
Because once we get to thatpoint, I don't think the main
thing would be the main thinganymore, which is continuing to
find more ways to entertain ourpeople.
And that would be scary.
And so I think just by stayinghumble and saying we have a lot
of room to grow, we have a lotof improvements that we can make
by considering that we arestill in the first inning.
(07:36):
It's not a place where we aredangerously uh too cocky, I
think.
And so when people do say thosethings to us, it almost takes
us, it almost, it almost knocksus off guard because we don't,
we don't think we have itfigured out yet.
We don't think we're that we'rethe best at it yet.
We're not.
Damian Bazadona (07:52):
Uh listen, I have great admiration for the
simplicity of your mission andhow focused you remain on it.
Uh Maureen, let me go, let youget in.
Maureen Andersen (08:01):
Cool.
Thank you.
Um I was curious about theticketing and pricing
standpoint.
Is, you know, that's a bigtopic in the industry these
days.
And you have, you know,arguably, you know, this huge
family fan base.
And you've made some, you'vebucked the system and you've
made some unconventional choicesover the years to really try
and keep things simple and fanfriendly.
(08:23):
Can you talk a little bit abouthow prices and fees and values
uh are all put through thatfan's first lens, especially
that the price and fee scenario?
And then I'd also like toisn't, you know, is to ask
about, you know, you creating anew closed loop environment of
the secondary marketannouncement that you all made
about uh about 10 days ago.
Emily Cole (08:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
It really started with this.
When we first launched theorganization, we said, how can
we not nickel and dime our fans?
That's what they're used to.
Fans are used to being nickeland dimed at events.
You pay for parking, you payfor the hot dog, you pay for the
beer.
It's it's cost after cost aftercost.
Or if you buy something online,there's a there's a convenience
fee, there's a shipping fee,there's all these extra fees
(09:05):
that add on to your tickets,right?
And so from the very beginning,before we even launched the
Savannah Bananas in Savannah in2015, we said, how can we make
this such a value-packed thingfor people that they have to go
try it out?
It there's really no risk forthem to go to go check us out at
least once.
And we knew once we had themthere, there was going to be so
(09:26):
much value that they would wantto come back.
So when we launched theSavannah Bananas for the first
time, we created theall-inclusive ticket.
So, still to this day, all ofour tickets in Savannah, Georgia
include all of your hot dogs,hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
chicken sandwiches, soda,popcorn, water, dessert.
Because we want kids to be ableto get up and go to the
(09:46):
concession stand without saying,Mom and dad, can I have another
$10 bill?
Can I spend another $20?
Can I have the credit card?
We didn't want to have thosenickel and dime moments.
And so from the very beginning,I think that hopefully makes it
clear that the value has beensuch a big focus for us and
taking out that friction pointof the added cost.
And we've just evolved that andcontinued that over the years.
(10:07):
All of our shipping for all ofour merchandise, which has
become a massive part of ourbusiness, is free shipping
around the whole country.
It's just we've never hadshipping fees.
Why would we add that on?
The convenience fees whenyou're buying tickets.
There's nothing convenientabout that.
So when people buy our tickets,it is the price that they see.
That is the ticket price.
We are hearing more and morethat we should go up on tickets.
(10:30):
That's why there's so muchdemand is that because that
they're so affordable.
Um, and I think that that'sjust the price we're willing to
pay is to hear that from peoplebecause the last thing we want
to do is gouge people.
We want families to be able tocome to these games.
We are keeping it as affordableas we can for families to come
out.
And that's something that we'regonna continue forever.
Uh, to speak to this newsecondary market issue.
(10:53):
Yes, there is a supply anddemand issue right now.
We are so grateful to have over40 million people on a wait
list.
But with over 4 million peopleon a wait list and not playing
in front of that many peoplelive, there is a supply and
demand issue.
We understand that.
And so unfortunately, we areseeing that sometimes in human
(11:14):
nature, there are people whowill look out for themselves and
try to win on uh, you know,somebody else's behalf.
And so we have tickets that arebeing sold on secondary markets
for three, four, five timeswhat we sell them for.
Obviously, we don't get anypart of that.
Individuals are just makingthousands of dollars on these
(11:35):
tickets that are being scalped.
And so it's not the perfectsolution, but it is a quick
solution that we can implementthis year.
We have been building behindthe scenes another ticket
platform, our own secondarymarket, so that the fan, the
local fan can help another localfan.
That's the whole premise isthat people in this fan's first
family are just gonna continueto take care of each other.
(11:57):
And if it only takes care of10% of people, at least it takes
care of another 10% of people,right?
In this first year, as welaunch this.
We want somebody to say, oh,you know, a wedding popped up in
our life and we can no longergo to this game, but I want to
help take care of another fan.
I'm not gonna go gouge somebodyon a different secondary market
and make five times what I paidfor the tickets.
I just want to help anotherlocal family similar to mine in
(12:19):
whatever city.
And so I'm gonna list them onthe fans first secondary website
and they will be able to buythem at the same exact price.
So we are now eating the costagain of selling tickets.
We are not making anything onthat.
We're actually paying morebecause of the charges and the
platform costs that we had tobuild this.
Um, but that's fans first.
(12:40):
And so again, it was a simpledecision for us to make to
invest in this platform thatwe're building, is because we
believe we can take care of morefans at that simple pricing.
So, yeah, a lot of thoughtsaround all pricing and fees and
ticket platforms, but it issomething that we're very
intentional about, somethingthat we're thinking about all
the time is how to continue totake care of people in that
(13:02):
aspect.
Maureen Andersen (13:03):
It's interesting because it's it's um
with the whole concept of thepricing and that you had all in
pricing, you know, long beforethe rest of the industry got
mandated by, you know, FTC lawsand rules and things like that.
So, you know, talk aboutbucking it.
It's great.
Um, we have a lot of intics andticketing pros who who tune in
and who work in the traditionalvenues that you all are coming
(13:27):
into.
And you had talked earlierabout reducing the friction
points.
As you come into these of thesevenues who may not have um as
robust of a fan first concept orvalue proposition, what would
be a small operational changethat you think that these venues
could realistically make thesystem, this season, excuse me,
(13:50):
that would move them closer to adeeper partnership and
engagement with a fur fans firstexperience?
Emily Cole (13:57):
Yeah, that's something that we think about
all the time, right?
We're in a new community, a newvenue every single week.
And so we have learned bydoing.
We have jumped in and had a newrelationship with a new group
every single week over the lastcouple of years.
And so we've learned a lotabout how different operators
operate and the pros and cons.
I think that it all comes backto the communication and being
(14:20):
on the same page.
We are so intentional aboutgoing ahead of time on site
visits and working with thesepeople and making sure that the
security team is on the samepage as the food and bev team.
They're on the same page as ourteam and our entertainment.
We're on the same page with thegroundskeepers.
There's so many differentplayers in this to make one of
our events work seamlessly,right?
(14:42):
We're going into somebodyelse's home and we're bringing
hundreds of people and we'redoing things on a ball field
that have never been donebefore.
And so there can be a lot ofnaysayers.
There can be a lot of, hold on,what's gonna happen?
This is our home.
You're coming onto our turf.
And so we try to do site visitsyears ahead of time.
We try to talk to these groupsyears ahead of time.
(15:03):
I mean, when people realize, orif people realize that when we
announce our schedule, we'veprobably been in communication
with a lot of these groups foryears because a lot goes into
this.
And we do have to make surethat it's a fans first decision
to go to these places.
There have been a lot of venuesthat we have turned down.
They might have been the bestoffers monetarily, but if they
(15:23):
were not gonna be the best fansfirst decision for our fans,
we've turned those venues down.
And that's been an interestingpart of our growth is you know,
you have this very beautiful,shiny thing in front of you, and
you have to walk away from itbecause it's not gonna be the
best decision, because securityis not gonna let you do a
certain thing, or groundskeepersaren't gonna let a single
(15:44):
person on the field besides yourplayers, or you know, whatever
it might be.
Um, and so that's somethingthat that communication early
really has to come into play,and that makes sure that we're
gonna have a successful event.
Maureen Andersen (15:59):
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Hey, uh Peter, I think you'vegot an audience question.
Peter Yagecic (16:39):
Yeah, I'd love to sneak in a listener question.
Uh and first of all, Emily,congratulations on all your
success.
And I love that you said thatyou're you're just in the first
inning.
Uh, I can't wait to see uhwhere you guys go from here.
The listener question I wantedto ask you first was thinking
back uh on you know when youstarted to now, was there a
(16:59):
single fan interaction or gamemoment when you thought, okay,
this is this is bigger thanbaseball now?
Anything that stick out to you?
Emily Cole (17:07):
My first thought goes to the national anthem
every night.
We are so go, go, go all thetime.
I mean, morning, noon, andnight, 24 hours a day, 365.
I feel like we're running,right?
Because we are still a startup.
And so that's what you do inyour startup phase.
You're running, you'regrinding, you're growing.
Um, but the national anthem atevery game I've been at has
(17:29):
always moved me to tears becauseit's the one time of day that I
have to stand still.
And I look around and I am justin awe of the amount of people
who chose to spend theirentertainment dollars and spend
their Saturday night with us.
And that moves me.
That moves me to tears.
And it moves me in a way that Iwant to continue to get better
(17:51):
for them, for every single fanthat's in the building that
night.
Um, and so that's a moment thathappens fortunately every night
that I get to slow down andlook around at what we've built
and just want to continue to getbetter for them.
It's one of my favorite momentsof every game because it
doesn't happen often and it'stwo minutes, usually more or
less.
And um, it's just a beautiful,a beautiful moment for us to
(18:14):
slow down in this startup phase.
Damian Bazadona (18:16):
How do you approach recruiting and
nurturing talent, both on thefield, but also in the stands,
the back office, and you have a,I think, a very distinct
culture.
Are there specific traits orexpectations you have in new
hires?
Just if you could take usthrough that process, I'd love
it.
Emily Cole (18:33):
Well, first I will say in the beginning, nobody
wanted to work for us.
Okay, so it's easy to look atus now and say, oh, they're so
much fun.
Everybody wants to work there.
But man, it was pulling teethin the very beginning.
You know, it was uh this newunusual thing that people didn't
understand.
And so trying to recruit forthat was very difficult.
I remember the first time wehad a dance uh choreographer
(18:54):
come to practice and they weregoing to teach our players some
dance moves, and it was not wellreceived.
I mean, most of the guys leftthe field uh because they're
like, this is not baseball.
This is not me.
This is not what I signed upfor.
And so I just want to put thatinto perspective because now it
is easy to say, oh, we have12,000 people on a wait list to
work for us.
That is mind-blowing.
(19:15):
That is crazy, and we're sograteful for that, but it wasn't
always like that.
And so we have just stayed verytrue to who we are and who we
want to surround ourselves with.
The people who are joining ourorganization, they are lifelong
learners.
And I mean that in every, inevery way.
It's not just the people whowork in the front office, it's
(19:37):
the players, it's the castmembers, it's the people who
want to reinvent themselves,it's the people who want to
grind, it's the people who wewant down in the trenches with
us because we're still there.
Again, from the outside, peoplethink that we have it all
figured out and that we're thismassively successful company.
And in some senses, we are, butwe still look at ourselves as
the rookie, the person who needsto prove themselves.
(19:59):
And so we're looking for thosepeople who want to have that
same tenacity or who do havethat same tenacity to go after
in life, you know, to betterthemselves personally and
professionally.
We do a book club as a group.
And one of the most recentbooks that we read was The Ideal
Team Player by Pat Lincioni.
And what stuck out to me inthat book is finding people who
(20:23):
are hungry, humble, and smart.
And when I look back at how wehired, those are three things
that very much stick out to us.
The intelligence level just hasto be there.
There's so much autonomy in ourcompany because we work in lots
of different cities at alltimes.
And so somebody has to beintelligent enough to just make
decisions.
You're not going to havesomebody looking over your
shoulder at all times.
(20:43):
But the hungry and humblereally come into play once
you're in the role because webelieve that we are still in the
first inning, like I said.
And so you have to have thehunger to grow because that's
where the company is going.
And so when you have leadershipsaying, we don't have it all
figured out, we don't want to bethe smartest people in any room
that we're ever in, we'recontinuously trying to surround
(21:05):
ourselves with brilliant,thought-provoking leaders.
We read, we listen to podcasts,we share articles, we're
watching videos constantly as acompany.
And so just that hunger to getbetter and then the ability to
stay humble while we're growingand say, you know, we have all
these accolades or peopletelling us we're doing a good
job or 12,000 people waiting towork with us or 4 million people
(21:26):
waiting to come to a game.
I mean, that can go to yourhead.
But we are very intentional atsaying we do not know everything
yet.
We are still learning.
There are so many people aroundus that we can learn from.
So those are some of thequalities that we look for.
Um, but yeah, it's interestingbecause from a staff standpoint,
from a cast standpoint, from aplayer standpoint, all of these
(21:46):
people are doing differentthings for our fans.
But at the end of the day, theyhave to be fans first in
whatever capacity that means.
And so we're looking for just areally great human on top of
all those other things.
We're looking for the personthat just instinctively bends
down and picks up the piece oftrash, or instinctively reaches
for grandma's hand and helps herwalk in the gates as she's uh,
(22:06):
you know, maybe stumbling up thesteps.
It's just a person that we wantto be around.
Uh, and that's our culture isvery important to us.
So I could talk all day aboutour culture.
It's something that means a lotto me.
And I think it's one of oursecret sauces.
I think that if we stay focusedon that, we'll be okay as a
company.
Damian Bazadona (22:22):
Yeah, no, I agree.
And I like the the hungry andhumble, I think makes a lot of
sense.
Um, and just given all the theguests we've had on this podcast
over the years, longevity iscomplicated in this business.
And so doing that over anextended, continued extended
period of time, and as you gothrough different phases as a
company, um, I I I can't seethat hurting you in any possible
way to kind of keep that withinthe culture, and obviously you
(22:44):
guys do a great job of it.
Uh, Maureen.
Maureen Andersen (22:46):
That's lovely because finding the uh the room
to be the give everybody thegrace to be actually humble is a
really amazing piece.
So which brings me to kind ofwhen you look at your data with
repeat attendance, themembership, the wait lists, all
the metrics over 10 years thatyou all have amassed.
Taking it beyond, you know,it's humanizing the data and
(23:08):
what's really behind the memberthat those numbers is can you
say that your community isgetting stronger and it's not
just about sales?
Emily Cole (23:17):
Oh, 100%.
That's our that's our focus.
I mean, truly, my husband,Jesse and I, we do not know day
to day what's in the bankaccount.
Those are those are not thenumbers that we are focusing on.
But I could tell you the numberof fans we served online and
merchandise.
I could tell you the number offans that are gonna come to each
ballpark.
When we stay focused as acompany on those numbers, the
(23:40):
people who we're serving, Itruly believe that that is gonna
help continue to keep us on theright path.
Maureen Andersen (23:46):
Now that's pretty cool.
I mean, when you look at thethe community, is it's all about
bringing it's being in serviceto a community.
And in this day and age, thatthat's that's above and beyond.
And it's that's what I thinkmakes you really special, is
that you're also bringingfamilies together and supporting
foster care community.
And I was really interested inyour Bananas Foster program.
(24:08):
Could you tell us a little bitmore about how that work came
about and influenced the way youthink about belonging and
caring inside the ballparks andoutside of the ballpark?
Emily Cole (24:19):
Yeah, I love this topic so much because it's so
near and dear to our heart.
My husband and I are fosterparents ourselves.
We have adopted our daughters,two of our daughters out of
foster care and into our family.
And so it's something that hasalways meant a lot to us.
And when you look at thedemographics of our games, it is
mostly families who areattending these games together.
(24:39):
And so when you look at thosethings, something that really
means a lot to our family andthe people who are attending our
games, you know, as we weregrowing, we thought we have this
responsibility.
We are creating a lot of joy inthe world.
And there is something to sayabout that.
But we continued to feel likewith a bigger platform, we had
more responsibility to give inour community.
And when looking at all ofthose things together, it felt
(25:03):
like we were being pulled to dosomething for the foster care
space.
It's this kind of this tabootopic that doesn't get spoken
about a lot.
And so we said, why not us?
It's so near and dear to ourheart.
Um, and not just to me andJesse, but the entire
organization has watched thesegirls grow up in our family.
They have had a front row seatto the changes in their life and
(25:24):
who they are as people and whothey're becoming as young
ladies.
And so it really means a lot toall of us to, you know, better
the foster care system.
And so we were knocking thisidea around for a little while.
And then, of course, my geniushusband one night in the middle
of the night sat up and said,Bananas Foster, I have the best
name.
Um, and from there, it was offto the races because how do you
(25:46):
say no to a name like that?
Right.
So Bananas Foster was born.
Um, and I will say from there,the tricky part started because
we needed to figure out what ourmission was going to be and
what we were going to focus on.
And with many nonprofits, youhave to focus on things like
fundraising and getting scarystatistics out there and
educating people.
And so those are things that wethought we might intertwine
(26:10):
into what we do day to day, butwe wanted to really focus on
staying aligned with who we wereas a company.
And so, as a company, if youthink about Fans First
Entertainment and Banana Ball,we are all about joy and
happiness and laughter andfamily.
And so we wanted to make surethat our nonprofit arm was also
aligned with that and connectedin those ways.
And so we started with thisvision of, hey, let's just
(26:34):
celebrate people in foster care,which is a very backwards way
of thinking because there's nota lot of things to celebrate in
foster care, right?
It's just a hard space.
It's a tough subject.
But if you look hard enough atanything, there are things to
celebrate.
And so sure enough, as we studymore and we look more into this
space, there are families andsocial workers who have been
(26:54):
helping children for decades.
And so we had this lens oflet's just celebrate those
people.
Let's focus on them.
And so that's what we do now atevery single game, whether it's
a very small stadium or a verylarge stadium, we get a local
family or somebody who has madean impact on that local
community's foster care system.
And we celebrate them on thefield and we just tell a little
(27:16):
tidbit of their story, and thecrowd inevitably stands up and
gives them a standing ovation.
And it's just such a beautifulmoment.
Now, we know that this is thisis spinning people's wheels and
this is inspiring and this iseducating people and creating
awareness.
And so it is doing all of thosethings that end up being the
goal of most nonprofits.
(27:36):
But we start it with happiness.
We start it with celebration.
And the most beautiful thingwhen we walk off the field every
night is seeing people from thecrowd come into the stairwells
and come into the aisles and hugthese families and hug the
people who we've justcelebrated.
And they're saying things like,I didn't know this was going on
in our community.
I had no idea.
(27:57):
Thank you so much for servingthese children for your whole
life.
How can I get involved?
It's just just such an organic,beautiful moment and it spurs a
lot of action.
And so we're very happy to bethe connectors in this story.
We're able to then talk to thepeople who want to get involved
and connect them with people inthat local community, whether it
(28:17):
is the foster care closets orthe mentorship programs or the
licensing agencies, whatever itis that people want to get
involved in, we're able toconnect them and then hopefully
bring them into this space.
And then we move on to the nextcity and we do it again and
again.
And so that's a big passion ofmine.
I'm sure you can hear it in myvoice, the way that I talk about
this, but happy to hopefullymake a small mark on the foster
(28:40):
care world and inspire a lot ofpeople, celebrate a lot of, you
know, very unsung heroes.
I mean, Emily, thank you somuch.
Maureen Andersen (28:48):
It's just amazing to have fundraising
turned on its ear as instead of,you know, the the woe is me
plea is that it becomes thejoyful celebration happiness
plea, is that there's so muchthat, you know, we all have
glass half full if we reallyjust turn the you know the
mantra on our heads.
Uh we have a lot of listenersthat are some of your biggest
(29:09):
fans, and I think Peter has uhhas an actual fan question too.
Peter Yagecic (29:13):
I do.
And and this question is from alistener who's actually also a
former fandom unpacked guest,uh, sixth man CEO Jeff Quayar,
who uh connected us with HughEmily, actually.
And when we interviewed him afew months ago, he talked about
the banana boat experience thatyour fans uh are gonna have a
chance to do coming up inFebruary, I think.
Um and and his question was uhafter everything the bananas
(29:36):
have accomplished, when peoplesaid it wouldn't work, what
still surprises you and why?
Emily Cole (29:42):
Oh yes.
Great question, Jeff.
Uh first, yeah, the the bananaland at Sea Cruise is something
that was born again because wewanted to serve our fans in a
better way.
As we are going to larger andlarger stadiums, this was a way
for us to try to connect with asmaller group of fans, some of
our biggest fans.
And so we work with Six Man,and it's such a fun project.
(30:04):
And it's something that youwouldn't normally think a
baseball team or a sports teamis gonna do is basically rent
out a cruise ship and throw afour or five day long party.
Um, but that's what we do.
We try to say whatever isnormal, do the exact opposite.
And how can we entertain thesepeople in a different way?
And so very excited to continueto work on that project.
This will be our second timedoing it with Six Man and
(30:27):
excited for that.
But I think day-to-day, whatcontinues to surprise me is the
way that people look at bananaball as this bucket list item.
You know, it's it is easy toget caught up in the day-to-day
for us.
We're in a new city every week,and we're bringing on new
(30:47):
people, and we have orientationsfor new players and staff
members, and you know, we're inthe grind of running a business.
And then we hear from a fanthat this was a Christmas gift
for their kids 12 months ago,and they are now traveling
across the country.
They've bought the merchandise,they've selected the tickets,
they won in the lottery.
This is their bucket list itemfor their family.
(31:11):
Uh, when that, when I hearabout that and when that
actually sits and resonates withme, um, I'm just in awe that we
are that to somebody, you know,because to me, we're just going
about our everyday life tryingto make the world a brighter
place and create a lot of fun.
And sure, I know that thereality is that people want to
come to tickets, come to gamesand get tickets.
(31:32):
I understand that.
But the fact that they're sothey put so much work and time
into it is still a foreignconcept for me and still
something I'm in awe of andsomething I'm so grateful for is
that people just put us up onthis pedestal and and plan their
year around these events.
Uh, it's so, so special.
We're so grateful.
Damian Bazadona (31:52):
Yeah, no, th Emily, thank you so much for the
time.
And, you know, we've beenreally anticipating and looking
forward to this conversation.
Um, so I genuinely appreciateit.
Uh you live your values, uh,and I think that's rare in this
business.
And and one of the things Ireally admire is, you know, we
we talked a lot about it, buthow you bring communities
together, and it it it reallyseems you leave a city in a
(32:14):
better place than when you firstarrived.
Uh, and that's awesome.
Um with all of the presscoverage about the growth and
success, what do people getwrong about your success?
And is there some, you know, isthere something people
misunderstand about the way youapproach your business that that
you think people should know?
Emily Cole (32:35):
Oh gosh.
There's there's so many things.
And this has been a learningcurve for us because we did kind
of catapult into the spotlight.
And, you know, we always justsay, we always say that we're
just a bunch of kids running abaseball team.
And the reality is that's howwe see ourselves still is these
(32:55):
young go-getters.
And we're not as young anymore,we've been doing this for
almost 20 years, but I still saythat because we still see
ourselves as people who are justlearning every day and people
who have a hunger to get better.
And so when you look at thepress coverage and the front
page news and the titles and thearticles that are being
(33:17):
written, um, it is a littledaunting because all of a sudden
everything is being covered.
And of course, nobody knows theinner workings of any business
or family, you know, unlessyou're in those walls.
And so we have to remind ourpeople every day that if we keep
the North Star the North Star,if we continue to serve our fans
(33:39):
and do what's right in thisworld, um, that's all we can do.
And there are going to bethings that are said that are
untrue.
But again, that's thetrade-off, right?
Of being this size and ofhaving four million people
trying to come out to yourevents is somebody is gonna be
upset about something or notlike the decision that was made.
They might not have all thefacts, of course, on how that
(34:01):
decision was made, but they canspeculate and they are gonna be
upset about something and theyhave the right to be.
And so I think that's justwhat's been hard for us is just
catapulting this quickly intothe spotlight and into quote
unquote stardom for a lot of ourpeople who are very young and
most of our team is in theirearly 20s.
Um, and so it's just a lot oflife experience that we are
(34:21):
catching up on or we're doingvery quickly, I guess you could
say, uh, and figuring outtogether.
But very fortunate for thepositive press coverage that we
mostly have and have a goodrelationship with a lot of
media.
So fortunately, we don't haveto deal with much of that.
Peter Yagecic (34:39):
That is gonna do it for this episode of Fandom
Unpacked.
If you liked what you heardtoday, please check out all the
great QA interviews we've doneover at fandomunpack.com, or by
searching Fandom Unpacked andfollowing the series in your
podcast player of choice.
We'd also love for you to rateand review the show while you're
at it.
That really helps us find newfans.
We'll be back in your feed in acouple of weeks with our first
ever Fandom Unpackedretrospective, a look back at
(35:02):
the best moments our guests haveshared with us over the past
year.
We'll see you next time, truebelievers.
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