The Atlanta Braves, a successful Major League Baseball franchise that captured a World Series title in 2021 and is on track to win the National League East division for the sixth consecutive season, is set to become its own distinct, public entity. Liberty Media Corporation, based in Englewood, Colo., has selected July 18 as the day where the split needs to become official as the company looks to reorganize its assets. The company’s President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei says that the move will allow investors to gain more clarity in decision-making and highlight the value of the team. Forbes assessed the value of the organization to be approximately $2.6 billion and generated $51.2 million in operating income during 2022.
Liberty Media Corporation is the parent company of Formula 1 racing, a subsidiary rapidly growing in popularity across the United States. Television audience metrics for the racing property last season were up 28% from 2021, and 12 of the 22 races shattered U.S. television event viewing records. Formula 1 and The Walt Disney Company announced an extension of their media rights deal through the 2025 season, estimated to be worth up to $90 million annually.
The media conglomerate also owns a majority share of SiriusXM satellite radio and has shares in Live Nation Entertainment. Over the years, the company has made numerous investments in the sports media space, including as a previous owner of the DIRECTV family of regional sports networks and led a Series D funding round for Overtime Sports.
Atlanta National League Baseball Club, LLC was integral in constructing Truist Park, a state-of-the-art facility that holds just over 41,000 spectators – and often sells its games out. Additionally, the team created The Battery Atlanta around the ballpark, providing fans with unique shopping and culinary experiences to accentuate the game day experience. The mixed-use development, owned and operated by the Braves Development Company, contains a hotel, apartments, entertainment venues and office space, some of which is occupied by Dickey Broadcasting (WCNN 680 The Fan).
While divulging its earnings this past May, Liberty Media Corporation reported first-quarter revenue for the Braves as $31 million, 35% higher than last year’s mark. The average attendance for Braves games at Truist Park is 39,076, up 3% from last year and one of the top 10 draws in the sport. As a whole, Major League Baseball is experiencing larger crowds across the board, perhaps engendered by the implementation of new rules intended to hasten play and boost offensive output. Stars such as Austin Riley, Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider and Matt Olson have fostered a strong relationship between the team and its fans with hopes of another World Series run.
The split of the team from Liberty Media will be completed through the exchange of stock by investors – essentially a trade of Liberty Braves stock into shares of Atlanta Braves Holdings, Inc. This new company will contain all of the assets currently encompassed within Braves Group and Braves Holdings, LLC. Projected revenue for the 2023 season is $425 million, according to Forbes, while its operating income is anticipated to be $51 million.
A new Liberty Live common stock will be created in early August, a reclassification of the common stock, and will contain Series A, Series B and Series C common stock pertaining to assets including Live Nation, the Drone Racing League, Overtime Sports and the Kroenke Arena Company. It will be funded with nearly $100 million of corporate cash from the Formula 1 Group and contain an undrawn margin loan through 9 million Live Nation shares.
