Anyone that knows me knows I am a little bit obsessed with golf, but I’m also slightly more obsessed with baseball and in the last few years I’ve started to notice a resurgence in the interest of the game. Attendance is up, ratings are up and views on social media are up.

Recently, I found myself watching the Savannah Bananas, which is not your typical baseball team. As a matter of fact, they play a game called Bananaball, an augmented creation of baseball invented by team owner Jesse Cole. The ball is yellow, the game has a 2-hour limit and if you hit a foul ball and the fan catches it, the batter is actually out.

While watching this circus on a baseball diamond, I discovered something. The game and show are all “fans first.” According to Cole, his entire purpose for the team is to put the interest of the fans first. They have dance routines by the players in between innings! As a matter of fact, they have a mandatory choreographed dance in the middle of one of the innings. They have walk up songs from every genre from Taylor Swift to Broadway musicals that players lip sync to.

Everything they do is simply to keep fans engaged in the entire game. It’s fun for just for fun’s sake.

I compare that to the stated goals of everyone involved with LIV Golf. Both organizations claim that they’re trying to grow their respective games. That they are the good guys. But from the beginning, LIV and those spearheading the project seemed to have something else in mind. They wanted a broader global reach. More interactions with a new younger and emerging market.

After all, isn’t that where the money is?

Bananaball, on the other hand, wanted to get kids back involved with baseball because, for a while, baseball was massively on the decline and Cole just really loves the game!

Several years ago, Major League Baseball decided they were going to make some changes to the rules to see if they could increase what was a declining audience. They increased the sizes of the bases. They implemented a pitch clock to make sure that the at-bats don’t take too long. Now they even have replay that is so efficient the NFL ought to take notes.

With all of that, this little team from Savannah, Georgia is selling out football stadiums. This little team from Savannah, Georgia has created a phenomenon where tickets sell out in seconds… not minutes… not hours… not days!

Again… fans first!

I’m not sure if LIV Golf has ever sold out a single event. Perhaps that’s the reason why the Savannah Bananas are surviving and now it looks as if LIV Golf is dying.

It really isn’t because the Saudi PIF fund decided it’s too expensive. It was because the main motivation of the entire project was for the benefit of players and owners of the league. LIV Golf made that a focal point of their existence… to be a competitor against the PGA TOUR. 

They were actively combative against most of the historic professional golf tours.   

Who got it right?

By all recent accounts, LIV Golf is going to have to find new funding next year because the PIF is pulling out. How are contracts for people like Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm going to be paid? Is the league done?

Compare that again to the Bananas. Cole wanted to grow the game of baseball because he loves baseball. He created a new league with new rules, but it was still based around the traditional game of baseball. And probably because of his lack of animosity to “the establishment” MLB stadiums and Major League Baseball themselves have embraced Bananaball to the point that they are now actively promoting it.

So, my advice for anyone who’s affiliated with LIV Golf is to reach out to Jesse Cole and find out how he made it work. He will tell you point blank… FANS FIRST.