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New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Atlanta Braves, ‘the model' in MLB, could have added payroll at trade deadline
The cash is rolling in for the Atlanta Braves, and according to team chairman Terry McGuirk, the team had the ability to spend more of it at a trade deadline where they were mostly quiet. 'We had dry powder in our arsenal for (the) trade deadline this year, for payroll,' McGuirk said Thursday on an investor call. 'Our threshold for investment there was basically that investment either needed to move us towards a playoff position this year, or help us dramatically in '26. And our limited activity during that period sort of reflected the inability of the market to meet those two requirements.' Advertisement The Braves' revenues are up 12 percent through the first six months of the year, the team said in a quarterly earnings report Thursday, despite a 47-66 record that has them 17 1/2 games out of first place. The Braves have brought in about $360 million through the first half of 2025, an increase of about $40 million from the same period in 2024. The team played the same number of home games, 40, in both periods. The Braves were the host of this year's All-Star Game and the accompanying festivities, as well. 'What we have built in Atlanta is the model that every other MLB franchise is chasing because of our ability to deliver consistent results in a cyclical sports team environment,' McGuirk said. Yet, on the field, the Braves are having a tough go. At the trade deadline, the team didn't deal pending free agents Raisel Iglesias and Marcell Ozuna despite being so far out of contention, while it added a couple rotation stopgaps in Carlos Carrasco and Erick Fedde. 'As we have the continuing upward trend of our business, will those dollars be reinvested in payroll? I'd start off saying that we have been a top-10 payroll team for some period of time,' McGuirk said, repeating an analyst's question. 'I see us continuing to maybe move up that ladder.' The Braves are projected to finish the year with a payroll of about $230 million, per FanGraphs. McGuirk pegged the team's performance woes on injuries, and said 'it's a challenge to compete in the short run.' 'This season has been a difficult one,' McGuirk said. 'We have endured some of the hardest injury news I have ever witnessed. Since Opening Day, we have lost all five of our opening day starting pitchers to injuries, and Ronald (Acuña Jr.) is once again on the IL. 'We're disappointed with the year. There's some underperformance, but the majority of it is injuries and missing players. Everyone is back for spring training '26. … We were a favorite to potentially be in the World Series this year. I think we will line up in that kind of a mode again next spring, and we will take a very hard look at the team and at everything that contributes to winning and losing during this off season.' Advertisement The Braves break down their earnings into two large buckets: baseball and mixed-use development, with the latter tied to its real-estate holdings around the ballpark in an area known as The Battery. Both have improved as the Braves have struggled on the field. Mixed-use revenue grew 37 percent in the first half of 2025, accounting for about $12 million of the growth. But the baseball side was still the main driver: it's grown 10 percent this year, and provided the remaining $28 million. 'The business model that we have created here at the Battery … drives consistent fan loyalty and economic success in a game where winning and losing can turn on the luck of an injury,' McGuirk said. Ticket sales could slow from here, however. 'We continue to see strong demand for our tickets overall, but we do expect to see some reductions in attendance now that school has started and given our team performance,' team president Derek Schiller said Thursday. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Hindustan Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
There's a Gold Rush in Pro Sports—and Baseball Is Lagging Behind
When the Minnesota Twins were put up for sale last year, their owners had every reason to believe that it wouldn't be long before the right billionaire offered them a fortune. Only a handful of Major League Baseball franchises had changed hands in the previous decade, and that included the record-setting $2.4 billion purchase of the New York Mets by hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen. It seemed as if the Twins were hitting the market at just the right time. But nine months and at least one scuttled deal later, they still don't have a buyer. The saga of the Twins has underscored a disconcerting reality for the baseball business. While professional sports teams in other American leagues are selling for increasingly astronomical numbers, the game known as the national pastime has largely missed out on the bonanza. 'It's no secret that we've lagged behind the other sports,' Atlanta Braves chairman Terry McGuirk said at a June investor event. Baseball teams are typically valued at four to nine times expected revenues, McGuirk said, while NBA teams go for multiples of 10 to 15. Deep-pocketed clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are still immensely valuable, with some estimates putting them between $7 and $9 billion, above many NFL teams. For everyone else, however, the situation is far less rosy. The Baltimore Orioles, the most recent team to change hands, went for $1.725 billion to Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein. The Kansas City Royals sold for $1 billion in 2019 to local businessman John Sherman. While the recent $10 billion deal inked for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and the $6 billion deal for NFL's Washington Commanders in 2023 set records, valuations have also been healthy for smaller-market teams in those leagues. The Charlotte Hornets went for $3 billion in 2023. The Denver Broncos sold for $4.65 billion in 2022. Even the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning sold for $1.8 billion last fall—slightly above the price that the owners of the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team are currently negotiating. In response, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred two years ago formed a six-member 'economic reform' committee. Its mission is to address the issue of lagging franchise valuations. 'Where are we? Why are we where we are?' Manfred said at the Braves investor event. 'And what can we do to fix our situation? That last part won't necessarily be an easy task. Two major characteristics set MLB's business model apart from the rest of North American sports: Baseball has traditionally been far more reliant than the other leagues on local television deals to drive revenue. It is also the only major sport that lacks any form of salary cap. Taken together, those factors make it difficult to predict a franchise's earning potential or reliably forecast expenses, spooking some potential buyers. The NFL and NBA derive much of their revenue from lucrative national TV deals split evenly among teams. In baseball, teams generate about 25% of their revenue on average from deals they strike themselves with local regional sports networks. The system means teams in bigger TV markets can command significantly higher fees, giving them resources to attract and retain star players. On the national-rights front, ESPN in February exercised a clause to opt out of the final three years of its $550 million-a-year contract with MLB at the end of the 2025 season. Meanwhile, many owners believe the lack of a salary cap has resulted in a growing competitive and economic imbalance between the big-market teams and their small-market counterparts. The Dodgers are spending a half-billion dollars on their roster between payroll and luxury tax payments. The Miami Marlins, meanwhile, have a payroll of around $67 million. (Perhaps not surprisingly, the Dodgers are World Series favorites this season, while the Marlins have a record below .500.) 'We don't have the kind of cost certainty, predictability and competitive balance mechanisms in our player comp system that the three other major professional sports have,' Manfred said at the Braves investor event. 'That's just a fact.' That may be about to change. Baseball owners could try to introduce a salary cap and floor after the current collective bargaining agreement ends next year. Manfred also says he wants to centralize baseball's media rights, moving teams away from their current reliance on local TV deals in favor of a more national approach. A view of Target Field prior to a July 4 game between the Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Rays. His ability to accomplish either feat is far from certain. Pooling media rights would require wealthy teams to share more revenue than they do now. A salary cap has long been seen as a third rail by the players' union, and a serious push for one would almost certainly result in a prolonged work stoppage. The last time baseball's owners made a serious attempt, it resulted in the player strike that canceled the 1994 World Series and badly damaged the sport. As for the Twins, they appeared close to finding a buyer earlier this year when private-equity billionaire Justin Ishbia expressed interest. He abandoned his pursuit of the team in February and last month struck an agreement to eventually take control of the big-market Chicago White Sox. 'Aggregating media rights and creating a better product doesn't just improve outcomes for owners,' said Zachary Pack, head of sports advisory at merchant bank BDT & MSD, whose co-CEO Byron Trott represented the White Sox in its recent sale process. 'It also benefits fans and players.' Write to Jared Diamond at and Miriam Gottfried at
