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The role finance will play in the Savannah Bananas’ 2026 season
As the Banana Ball World Tour continues, the team’s finance function, led by Dr. Tim Naddy, is focused on systems, talent and execution.
The role finance will play in the Savannah Bananas’ 2026 season
As the Banana Ball World Tour continues, the team’s finance function, led by Dr. Tim Naddy, is focused on systems, talent and execution.
As one of most coveted spectacles in sports and entertainment nowadays, the exhibition baseball team known as the Savannah Bananas head into the 2026 season reinforcing the systems, people and processes that have come to support their national touring operation.
Six teams, including two expansion teams, will crisscross the country in 2026, carrying with them support staff, equipment and merchandise. Games put on by the Bananas are set to once again fill America’s largest baseball and football stadiums, as well as their home field in Savannah, Georgia, and the business behind the show now demands an operational scale that reflects a growing professional sports enterprise.
For Dr. Tim Naddy, vice president of finance for the Bananas, preparation for 2026 means being clear about priorities and building the internal capabilities needed for a growing organization. “We’ve been in hypergrowth the entire time,” Naddy said. “Finance has been in lockstep with operations, and that’s allowed us to stay agile as things continue to expand.”
Heading into the new season, the work is focused on tightening execution, expanding internal skills and preparing systems to support higher volume across that growing number of teams and venues. Those efforts span live events, merchandise, technology, compliance and player education, areas where finance is increasingly involved as the organization scales.
Reinforcing operational priorities as the footprint grows
The Bananas continue to organize their business around a structure that clearly defines what matters most operationally. Internally, Naddy frames that structure as the “diamond” and the “dugout,” a model that helps finance and operations align as volume increases.
“The diamond is the live show,” Naddy said. “That’s tickets, entertainment and everything fans see when they come to a game.” Behind that sits the dugout, which includes merchandise, media production and other support functions that enable the live experience to scale.
With the two additional teams being incorporated into the touring schedule for 2026, Naddy said the live-event model has become table stakes for finance. He said travel, staffing and logistics scale in predictable ways, allowing the organization to plan with confidence. “You’re multiplying people, travel and venues,” he said. “That’s something we know how to do now.”
The dugout side requires more careful planning, particularly around merchandise. New teams introduce new brands, and inventory decisions carry more uncertainty as fan demand develops. “We want merchandise that fans enjoy and are proud to wear,” Naddy said. “At the same time, these are new brands, so you’re learning how quickly product moves.”
To support that growth, the Bananas recently moved into a 100,000-square-foot merchandise facility just outside of Savannah in Pooler, Georgia, which expands capacity while placing greater emphasis on execution fundamentals. “It’s blocking and tackling,” Naddy said. “Getting the basics right matters even more as volume increases.”
Merchandise sales remain heavily concentrated around live events, where staff can engage directly with fans. Naddy said those in-person interactions are a critical part of the experience. “That’s where customer service really shows up,” he said. “You’re not just selling something, you’re interacting with people face to face.”
Strengthening systems, data and internal skills
Finance continues to play a central role in supporting the Bananas’ operational complexity. Investments in reporting tools and data infrastructure allow the team to respond quickly as schedules, staffing and logistics evolve. “Tools like [Microsoft’s] Power BI allow us to be quicker on the reporting side,” Naddy said. “We can look at historical performance and use that to inform forecasting and planning.”
Those capabilities become especially important during the offseason, when adjustments are tested ahead of a full touring schedule. “We’re making tweaks now that we couldn’t make in season,” Naddy said. “We’re seeing that a lot of those adjustments are easier because we understand where the speed bumps are.”
The Bananas have also refined how they use their ERP system after transitioning to NetSuite. The finance team now uses the platform with most integrations turned off. “We use it as a general ledger,” Naddy said. “The only thing that’s automated is the bank matching.” That decision followed a closer look at transaction volume tied to ecommerce activity, particularly merchandise sales.
https://www.cfo.com/news/the-role-finance-savannah-bananas-2026-season-tim-naddy-jesse-cole-letter-fans-first-entertainment-/809741/
