Liberty Chair Malone Not Afraid To Spend To Turn Braves Around
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Braves Attendance Up Since Liberty Media
Took Control Of Team From Time Warner |
Since Liberty Media purchased the Braves from Time Warner in May '07, the team's turnaround effort, led by the Braves front office, "has already begun to bear fruit," according to Monte Burke of FORBES. As part of the purchase agreement, Liberty Media Chair John Malone agreed to retain Braves execs, including CEO Terry McGuirk, President John Schuerholz and GM Frank Wren. Yankees President Randy Levine called the Braves front office "outstanding, one of the best in baseball." Malone: "We don't have to run the baseball team, nor would we be any good at it. This is not unusual for us. We've always had a highly decentralized approach to running businesses." Despite missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year in '07, the Braves brought in $28.1M in operating income, and Forbes values the team at $497M, seventh among MLB's 30 teams. The Braves have "spent $30[M] over the last five years making the fans want to come back, and it seems to be working." Attendance is up, and 20% of the 10,000 season-ticket holders "lost in the early 2000s are back." All of which "helped make 2007 the team's most profitable year in at least a decade." The Braves, whose 31-year-old TV contract with TBS ran out in '07, did a "superb job replacing" the net, and the team this season will "bring in $57[M] from broadcasts on FSN South, SportSouth and Peachtree TV, a local Atlanta station."
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Braves Ink Glavine To Free
Agent Deal With Offseason |
SPENDING SPREE: Malone "knows that maximizing his return ultimately depends on how the Braves do" on the field. Shortly after purchasing the team, the Braves acquired 1B Mark Teixeira, who makes $12M a year, and this offseason the team re-acquired P Tom Glavine, who earns $8M annually. Malone said that he has "set no limit on the payroll." Malone: "We won't be cheap. We'd like to win. If [McGuirk] calls up and says they need something, they'll get it." Malone has "given his baseball people all the money they need, upping the club payroll from $87[M] to $102[M], the tenth highest in the majors." Liberty President & CEO Greg Maffei: "I think the management, if anything, is reasonably more empowered now." Burke notes at first there was "fear Malone might flip the team for a quick profit," but Malone said that he "can see owning it for decades, even though he's contractually obliged to hold on only until 2011." Malone, citing his longtime involvement with Turner Broadcasting -- since '86 -- and QVC, said, "Most of the assets we're in we've owned for a long time. I like to think the Braves are an appreciating asset" (FORBES, 5/5 issue).
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