Fans can get ready to party at Dudy Noble Field with baseball’s favorite least favorite team coming to Starkville next year.
The Party Animals, known widely as rivals to the Savannah Bananas, will make their way to Mississippi State as part of the 2025 Banana Ball World Tour. The independent team that has helped bring a twist to a traditional game – one that includes choreographed dances, jersey additions such as cowboy hats, and unusual rules – will play in Starkville on Friday, Aug. 22, and Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. Both games will be at 7 p.m. CT.
“We are excited to partner with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership to bring the Party Animals to the Best Small Town in the South,” Mississippi State Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said, per a release from the university. “This is a fantastic opportunity for fans to enjoy a unique game at the Carnegie Hall of College Baseball and visit our incredible community and campus.”
While the Savannah Bananas will not be part of the action in Starkville, with a home series scheduled for the same weekend, the Party Animals are still a must-watch with both teams selling out stadiums across the U.S. in recent years.
Picking Mississippi State as a location in 2025 makes sense as Dudy Noble Field and the Bulldogs hold the record for the largest attendance for an NCAA on-campus baseball facility and is the only NCAA program to boast attendances of 14,000 or more. Of the top 25 all-time on-campus attendance records, Dudy Noble holds 24 of the spots.
Even though the Savannah Bananas and Party Animals have profited from a Harlem Globetrotter-Washington General style of play, both teams now tour with others under the Banana Ball Umbrella – including the Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, and The Visitors. It has not been announced who the Party Animals will square off against in Starkville. All teams playing Banana Ball are made up of players who are recruited and paid for their play, with some rebounding from the MLB and others using it as a launching pad to get back to the big leagues.
Fans will have the opportunity to purchase tickets by joining the ticket lottery list here. Those who join the list by Nov. 1, 2024, will then be entered into a random drawing for the chance to buy tickets two months before the event.
