NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The Savannah Bananas are heading to Harbor Park in Norfolk this summer for their 2024 Banana Ball World Tour, but you might be out of luck if you didn’t join the Bananas’ ticket lottery.
Any social media posts promising tickets through third-party websites, some of which advertise tickets above $200, are likely a scam, a team spokesperson said.
“We try to tell everybody to not go on those third-party websites because 99% of the time they are fake tickets,” said Lindsey Licitra with the Bananas. “So it’s kind of go at your own risk … you can check with us but mostly they are scam tickets.”
She said the Bananas have effectively “sold out” all of their tickets for the tour through the team’s lottery system, which closed Dec. 1, 2023. Those who joined the lottery list are not guaranteed a ticket, but will be notified by the Bananas about two months before the August 16-18 Harbor Park series if they were selected.
Tickets through the Bananas are a $35 flat rate for those who do luck out in the lottery for tickets to Harbor Park, which holds just over 12,000 fans.
The team says those who didn’t get in the lottery by Dec. 1, 2023, can join their waitlist, but that won’t get you a chance at 2024 tickets. However, they will send tips to help you get tickets in 2025.
“We’re very fans first … we want to make sure we’re doing it the right way and treating all our fans equally,” Licitra said.
The Bananas, which used to be in the collegiate amateur summer Coastal Plain League with the Peninsula Pilots, are now a fully professional exhibition team akin to the Harlem Globetrotters. They’ve become a household name for their wacky “Banana Ball” format with flaming bats, pitchers on stilts and foul balls being caught by fans counting as outs. \
The team is based in Savannah, Georgia, but went on their first tour of the country last summer.
They’ll play in Norfolk at Harbor Park from August 16-18 against their rivals, the Party Animals. They’re also playing in six Major League stadiums for the first time this season. That includes a stop at Nationals Park on July 13.