GOOD NEWS: THE SAVANNAH BANANAS FOOTBALL TAKES GIANT LEAP FORWARD WITH GROUNDBREAKING CONSTRUCTION OF NEW $4 MILLION TRAINING FACILITY AT GRAYSON STADIUM
A new $4 million training facility is being built at Grayson Stadium.
The facility will accommodate the league’s growth to six teams and feature modern amenities like a climate-controlled weight room.
An amended lease with the City of Savannah extends the team’s stay and provides land for the 10,000-square-foot building.
The logo design for a future $4 million clubhouse at Historic Grayson Stadium won’t simply bear the name of the flagship team that calls the stadium home. It will say Banana Ball, the name of the inventive style of baseball popularized by the Savannah Bananas team.
The facility is set to be a modernized training facility, with a climate-controlled weight room and locker rooms, equipped to accommodate the growth of the league.
The concept grew to four teams this year, and two more are expected next season for the inaugural year of the Banana Ball Championship League. But Grayson Stadium, in all its historic glory, was built to house only one team.
“It is going to be four completely individual teams that are calling the space home, so we don’t want it to feel like they are in someone else’s house,” said Ret Weeks, the Bananas’ head of stadium operations and capital projects. “That will be their space, and we’re going to be really proud of it.”
But the new facility requires adding to the stadium’s footprint. Current plans show a 10,000-square-foot building located just beyond the left center field wall, adjacent to the current Daffin Park dog park.
The facility will extend roughly 10 feet past the stadium’s current perimeter wall and about 20 feet west of the center field batting cages, Weeks said. Weeks described it as “squaring off” the left center field portion of the stadium.
“Where we’re building it, it’s not going to expand the stadium too much out into the park,” Weeks said.
The new facility was made possible through an amendment to Fans First Entertainment LLC’s (owner of the Bananas) lease agreement with the City of Savannah for Grayson Stadium. The amended agreement extends FFE’s lease an additional five years to September 2030 and provides the additional land needed to construct the facility.
The area currently beyond Grayson Stadium’s boundary is an open grass and dirt area, which the new building will extend into.
The amended lease also states FFE will absorb operating costs at the stadium including utility, janitorial and maintenance costs. The changes are expected to save the city $150,000 per year. Savannah City Council unanimously approved the updated lease agreement on Aug. 14.
“Our Grayson Stadium will continue to get the love that it deserves,” said Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who called the partnership with the Bananas a “great public-private partnership.”
But when news of the updated agreement was published by the Savannah Business Journal, many concerns about the growth of the Bananas into Daffin Park surfaced online. One post in a community Facebook group garnered over 80 comments, including one from the alderman representing Daffin Park—Nick Palumbo.
Palumbo over multiple paragraphs acknowledged “growing pains” associated with the Bananas’ boom while also saying the team was a success story the city could be proud of. In a follow up interview, Palumbo said those pains were good problems to have.
He said in the interview the growing pains were quality of life issues such as noise and parking challenges in the nearby neighborhoods, with parking issues sometimes including blocked driveways for residents.
The alderman added that the updated lease was discussed “extensively behind the scenes” and included meetings at the stadium and conversations with Bananas leadership. Palumbo added in the interview that he has requested the Bananas meet with the Parkside neighborhood association.
And he pledged to protect nearby neighborhoods, and the park.
“You have my word that I’m working every angle I can to balance these impacts and do what’s best for Daffin Park, our neighborhoods, and our City as a whole,” Palumbo wrote on Facebook.
The red brick façade at Grayson Stadium’s central entrance is one of its iconic vistas.
The exterior of the new training facility is slated to match that design with the red brick accents and archways to look as if they were built in 1941.
“Part of the appeal of Grayson Stadium is the history here,” Weeks said “… so it’s important that as we build this, we wanted this place to look like it’s always been here.”
The red brick shell cases the existing grandstands where the clubhouses for the Bananas, and Banana Ball’s second-biggest team the Party Animals, reside below.
Those clubhouses were last renovated in 1995, and besides some additional locker room space for the other two teams (the Firefighters and the Tailgaters), it’s the only clubhouse space on property. There are also limited facilities for weight training. Players currently pump iron in a shed beyond the outfield wall.
That space has no air conditioning.
Weeks said plans for the new facility began by trying to meet the demand of Banana Ball’s growth.
“The stadium right now is really only meant for one full-time team,” Weeks said.
The new facility will be fitted with showers, locker rooms, a lounge area and an air-conditioned weight training facility. The organization plans to break ground at the end of September or early October.
That pace is nothing new for Bananaland.
“We move fast, just like a Banana Ball game,” Weeks said.
