At the end of his presentation at a virtual conference Monday, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei was asked if he thinks the Braves have more formidable competition in the National League East now that the Mets are owned by billionaire hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen.
“You would be reluctant to bet against Steve Cohen’s wallet, but it takes a while to fix these things,” Maffei answered. “I think Mets fans are long-suffering, and they may have a little longer to hold their breath. I’m not sure this is their year.”
Maffei’s interviewer at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference also had told him of one oddsmaker giving the Liberty-owned Braves and the Cohen-owned Mets the same chances of winning the NL East this season.
“You know spreads are made by the fact that there’s a lot more guys betting in New York, probably, than there are in Atlanta,” Maffei said. “I still think most observers would call us the favorite, and I certainly would, for the NL East.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The Mets currently are projected to have a 2021 player payroll of almost $185 million, according to sports contracts tracker Spotrac.com. That’s about $56 million more than the Braves’ projected opening-day payroll of $129 million.
Maffei discussed a few other topics regarding the Braves on Monday:
⋅ On ticket demand for the 2021 season amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic: “We’ve seen enormous fan demand at the Braves. Now, it doesn’t hurt that we have an exciting team. You know, we’ve won the National League East three years in a row. We were one game from the World Series last year, and most people think we’ve added to the team, enhanced the starting pitching, signed (Marcell) Ozuna again to come back. He had a great year for us. So, look, we are very excited about the prospects, and I think our fans are excited.”
⋅ On how many fans will be allowed at home games this season: “I think we’ll anticipate starting with 25% capacity in Georgia (and) hopefully be able to increase that. We’re lucky that Georgia is a relatively open place. … So I’m optimistic we should be able to push that up.” (Braves CEO Derek Schiller said the team will determine the exact seating capacity for April’s 14 home games no later than March 12 and will re-evaluate on a month-to-month basis.)
⋅ On potential legalization, which the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and Atlanta United favor, of online sports betting in Georgia: “There’s bipartisan support to get sports betting done in Georgia, and I think that will get done in the near term,” Maffei said. “And that should have not only better fan engagement, but potentially monetization opportunities as well, although I don’t think they’re going to be massive for these teams at the end of the day. I think they’re mostly on the margin.”
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