The City of Conway will help pay for a two-day visit by barnstorming exhibition baseball teams/comedy troupes from the Savannah Bananas baseball organization.
City Council voted 7-0 to give Coastal Carolina University $42,000 to help cover costs associated with staging the event. The Party Animals and the Coconuts, a pair of Banana Ball franchises, will play a two-game set at Spring Brooks Stadium on the CCU campus on March 28-29, 2025.
The proposal brought before council called for the money to be given to CCU as a grant through the city’s Economic Development Grant program, which earmarks $150,000 each year from the city’s general fund to support economic development projects. The general fund utilizes real estate taxes levied by the city.
Council Member William Goldfinch said he supports the city co-sponsoring and helping pay for the event, but he objected to the funding mechanism because it draws from general tax funds.
Goldfinch said people would ask why council “raised my property taxes for a baseball game.”
Instead, the council stipulated that the expenditure be made utilizing receipts from the city’s Hospitality Tax, a 1% tax on restaurant meals and admission tickets, and 1.5% on hotel rooms.
Hospitality tax receipts must be spent to attract and serve visitors, and Goldfinch said it would be a more appropriate source of funding for Banana Ball.
According to the grant application submitted by Coastal Carolina Athletics, the cost to stage the games is projected at $77,000, which includes a guaranteed $25,000 fee to be paid to Fans First Entertainment, owner of the Banana Ball Championship League.
Banana Ball — as seen on ESPN — is a fast, fun and family friendly brand of baseball that can include behind-the-back, back-flip and belly-flop catches; between-the-legs throws, spinning bat tricks, dancing and other antics.