Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, whose company owns the Braves, revealed Thursday that "changes in the Braves’ local TV deals" will generate about $500M in "additional revenue for the team over time," according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. While the TV deals were reworked last year, Maffei on a quarterly conference call "shed new light on the financial significance of the changes." He said that the TV deals "originally ran" through '27, but he "didn’t say how long the renegotiated deals run." Maffei also "applauded Braves management for its operation of the team and its work on the new stadium scheduled to open in Cobb County" in '17. Maffei: "Most recently the actions that they are taking to create the new stadium and the complex around it … are going to create a lot of value for the Braves. So that asset has gone up quite nicely in value over the last several years, and I expect the completion of the stadium will continue that trend." Tucker notes the reworked TV deals "centered around the shift to Fox’s regional sports networks of 45 games per season that previously were on Turner Broadcasting’s Peachtree TV" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/9). Maffei said of the Braves, "They have not been a cash consumer. They have not been an enormous payroll company. They have created a great product with a controlled payroll, and accordingly have been a profitable team." He said the new stadium "would create a lot of value" for the company (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/8). In Atlanta, Mark Meltzer noted Liberty Media public filings show that the Braves received $17M in Q1 of '13 in a "one-time payment for TV broadcast rights." Liberty in reporting Q1 results for FY '14 noted that revenue from the Braves and its minor-league clubs declined (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/9).
