Like most companies, baseball teams like to keep their financials close to the vest. No team wants everybody to know how much money they are profiting annually, especially when CBA negotiations are ongoing and a potential strike is looming. However, Liberty Media is one of the few publicly traded companies to own a baseball team, which means their financials have to be made public quarterly… and the annual results are in.
As expected, following a World Series run, The Braves raked in a ton of profit last year — $104 million, to be exact.
Do not believe the lie that baseball teams are not extremely profitable ventures. They are. And the financials of the Atlanta Braves, as @EricFisherSBG noted, illustrate that. A $104 million profit in 2021. A $6 million-per-game revenue stream. As a business, baseball is superb. pic.twitter.com/OXlMCdOKNn
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 25, 2022
2020 was a rough year for everybody, and the Braves were no different, as they operated at a $53 million loss. But they more than made up for it in 2021, and the outlook is even brighter for the future.
Liberty Media has shown that they will only invest a fraction of that profit back into the team, so there’s no reason to expect that to change once the lockout ends. With that being said, this news makes the reports suggesting Freeman will leave over one year even more preposterous. The budget will allow the Braves to offer that all-important sixth year. If he departs, it is either because Alex Anthopoulos does not think he is worth the money or Freeman simply wants to play elsewhere.
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