Banana Ball Is Coming Back to Disney, and the Games Are Real

Details as of the morning of October 16, 2026. Disney and Banana Ball announced the Banana Ball Open on October 15. It runs April 15 to 18, 2027, at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World. The ticket lottery is open now and closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31, 2026, per the Banana Ball help center.

I am not a sports fan. As a kid I loved the Harlem Globetrotters: the spinning ball, the bucket of confetti, the referee who never quite kept up. It was slapstick with a basketball. Banana Ball gets compared to that a lot. After reading the league’s rules and Disney’s announcement, I think the comparison only goes so far. The comedy is real, and so is the competition.

The Globetrotters, briefly

The Harlem Globetrotters started in Chicago in 1926 as a barnstorming team that played to win. They took the 1940 World Professional Basketball Tournament and beat the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948. Comedy came in over the following years, and the games turned into exhibitions with planned routines. For decades the opponent was the Washington Generals, a team formed in 1952 to play the straight man. Wikipedia counts more than 16,000 Generals losses against as few as three wins. Families went for the trick shots and the gags. Nobody checked the standings the next morning.

Banana Ball in 2027

The Savannah Bananas were founded in 2016 as a summer college team in the Coastal Plain League. The faster, crowd-friendly rule set was created in 2018, and the first official Banana Ball game was played on June 26, 2020, at Grayson Stadium in Savannah. Wikipedia reports that the Banana Ball Championship League, with Jesse Cole as commissioner, began play in 2026. For 2027 Disney lists six teams: the Savannah Bananas, Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Indianapolis Clowns and Loco Beach Coconuts. They play a real schedule and keep standings.

The league’s official rules run to 11 items. The ones that change the feel of a game:

• Every inning is worth one point to the team that scores more runs in it. In the last inning, every run counts.
• No new inning can start after two hours.
• Stepping out of the batter’s box is a strike, and a batter who bunts is ejected.
• A batter can try to steal first base on any pitch.
• On ball four the batter sprints to first while every fielder has to touch the ball before it becomes live.
• A fan’s clean catch of a foul ball is an out.
• A tie at the time limit goes to a showdown tiebreaker.
• Each team can challenge a ruling, and the fans get one challenge a game.

The aim is to keep the game moving and give the crowd something to do. The winner is still whoever comes out ahead under those rules.

April 15 to 18 at Wide World of Sports

All six teams will be at the complex. The top four play a four-game tournament in The Stadium, which seats more than 9,500, and the winner earns an early playoff berth, according to Disney Tourist Blog. The schedule as Laughing Place reports it:

• April 15: 4-seed vs. 1-seed
• April 16: 3-seed vs. 2-seed
• April 17: Open Final Game 1
• April 18: Open Final Game 2

None of the sources name which four teams will play. This is the second Banana Ball event at the complex. Party Animals and Loco Beach Coconuts faced off there on May 29 and 30, 2026.

Getting into the lottery

Tickets are not on open sale. The way in is the Ticket Lottery List at BananaBall.com. The lottery closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31, 2026. Several outlets printed 11:50 p.m., but the official ticket page and the help center both say 11:59. The help center says, “When you join does not affect your chances.” After the list closes, names are drawn at random, and selected fans get an email with a purchase window. Per the ticket guide, Fans First Tickets, the league’s ticket seller, will contact everyone who entered by the deadline this winter. The guide gives no date for when those emails stop going out.

The help center and the lottery sign-up page set these rules: entrants must be 16 or older with a valid government ID, with one entry per person and residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico only. A selected fan can buy up to five tickets. Entering does not guarantee tickets.

Standard tickets start at $35 and Meet and Greet tickets start at $100. The Disney Parks Blog says there are no hidden fees or tax. If you miss the lottery, the site also offers a Ticket Interest List and a Notify Me option. Neither guarantees a seat.

The dancing and the trick plays will look familiar to anyone who liked the Globetrotters. The other team here is trying to win, and the standings count.

Checked against the Disney announcement, the Banana Ball help center and official rules as of October 16, 2026.

Editor written. AI used for spelling and grammar only.