With prices hiked, some Braves season-ticket holders feel unvalued

He joined the Braves’ A-List — the team’s circle of season-ticket holders — for the 2022 season after he moved to Atlanta.

“It helped me feel connected — to the city, to the team, to the ballpark,” Bowman wrote in a July email to Andrew Walters, the team’s vice president of business development and member experience.

Bowman said he paid $1,242 for two full-season tickets in 2022. And after his price actually dropped for 2023 by 5%, the costs steadily rose — a 17% increase for ’24 and then 22% in ’25.

On July 21, when he received a renewal notice for 2026, it contained a 45% increase — rising to $2,442 — nearly double his 2022 price.

“I fully understand I’m not a high-dollar client with premium seats, so my departure probably doesn’t matter to you,” Bowman wrote. “But that’s exactly the problem — it feels like longtime, everyday fans like me are being pushed out without a second thought. What justification is there for this kind of increase?”

Judging by Walters’ response, Bowman isn’t alone in his discontent. In an email, Walters acknowledged to Bowman that a 45% increase, “especially following previous hikes — can feel excessive and disheartening,” Walters wrote. “We’ve heard similar concerns from other longtime members, and I assure you these conversations are being elevated internally.”

The Braves say ticket pricing is a more complex issue, based on several factors and a new pricing model.

Chandra Childs had a similar experience. She first bought Braves season tickets almost 20 years ago, when the team was still at Turner Field. Her two sons grew up cheering for the Braves at Turner Field and then Truist Park.

“They learned to walk in the stadium,” Childs told the AJC.

She stuck with the Braves through lean seasons, when attendance was so thin she could count the fans sitting in outfield sections.

Childs loves the game. There is nothing like a walk-off win, she said.

She loves the friendships she has made with stadium employees and other season-ticket holders in her 400-level section. They’ve even had get-togethers during the offseason.

“Single mom with two kids — I can’t justify that,” said Childs, who did not renew her ticket package.

Talking numbers

It’s unclear how representative the cases of fans like Bowman and Childs are.

There are more season-ticket holders who are feeling the pinch, as the Braves have increased their prices for 2026, including A-List members in different stadium levels with both 81- and 27-game packages.

Two reached out to the AJC to report renewal increases of more than 90% for 2026.

On the same Facebook group, when A-List members were asked to share data of their renewal costs, of 43 responses, 34 reported increases between 22% and 48%.

Further, it follows repeated significant hikes in recent years for at least some portion of the season-ticket base.

In fairness, though, surely there also are vast numbers of A-List members satisfied with their experiences.

It’s obviously a small sample size. Is it representative? Were respondents mostly angry A-List members suffering from sticker shock?

However, the spokesperson declined to provide the average increase for season-ticket prices for 2026, noting that it “is not an accurate way to reflect what is being offered to each A-List member in each seating area,” given that there are hundreds of different price points available for season-ticket holders.

Pricing for different sections has been set based on factors like shade, proximity to the field, and placement within the section. Further, the spokesperson wrote, the club is making more informed decisions on pricing based on nearly a decade of data collected at Truist Park (including demand, usage and secondary market) after originally setting prices on the model from Turner Field, which was 20% larger and featured different amenities.

It can all be true. And those with gripes may be but a vocal minority who can elect to choose a more affordable package.

Regardless, for those A-List members who’ve been socked with hefty increases in successive years, it all feels wrong. It’s hard to blame them, especially when the club makes statements about how “loyalty should be rewarded” and that “the everyday fan is the heartbeat of Braves Country,” as Walters, the Braves VP, wrote to Bowman, the heartbroken season-ticket holder who did not renew for next season.

Or that “we are fortunate to have a strong and loyal fan base,” as Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller said recently.

‘Just really disappointing’

It may be an outlier, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. However much the new price might have brought it significantly closer to what club decision makers deemed the true value of the seats, it’s mind-boggling to think that they decided that nearly doubling the price of anyone’s season tickets from one year to the next was a sound decision for a business that depends on the loyalty of its fans.

“It’s just really disappointing,” Laguana told the AJC. “All the comments people have messaged me saying that they felt that they’re not valued anymore, and they’re done. They’re done with the team, and they’re walking away, and that’s really sad.”

That may well not be the case. But it ought to register as a major concern to the Braves that at least some of their most loyal customers — people who have given their money, time and hearts to this team, some for more than a decade — have come to feel that way.

“They don’t care, that’s the thing,” Laguana said.

The Braves probably will be fine without the season-ticket holders who’ve decided they’ve had enough. As was reported in August, profits for Atlanta Braves Holdings — the parent company of the club and its accompanying real-estate portfolio — are up significantly from last year.

But it might be telling that, despite a legion of fans on the waiting list, Braves fans who had opted out were being contacted to see if they’d reconsider.

“We’ve made adjustments to our membership program with the goal of sustaining long-term value and access, but clearly we need to do a better job of communicating that value and listening to feedback like yours,” Walters wrote.