The price of publicly traded shares of stock in the Braves has fallen sharply amid the coronavirus pandemic that has roiled the stock market and shut down sports leagues.
Braves stock, which was trading at almost $30 per share early last month and above $26 early this month, closed Tuesday at $17.09 for the most commonly traded Series C shares (ticker symbol BATRK). The shares regained some ground after closing at $15.54 on Monday and trading as low as $13.20 last week.
Team owner Liberty Media issued Braves tracking stock four years ago, enabling investors — and fans — to buy and sell shares in the team on the Nasdaq exchange separately from the rest of the Colorado-based company.
The current price is below where the Braves stock closed on its first day of trading April 18, 2016 ($19.14).
The Braves are one of the few sports teams in the world with publicly traded stock.
The Braves had $476 million in revenue last year and $54 million in operating profit before depreciation and amortization, Liberty Media disclosed last month. Of the $476 million in revenue, $438 million came from baseball sources (ticket sales, concession sales, sponsorships, broadcast rights fees, etc.) and $38 million from real-estate development at The Battery Atlanta. All of those revenue streams would be severely impacted by a substantially shortened season.
The Braves' season was originally scheduled to begin Thursday at Arizona. But the MLB season is delayed indefinitely, with games not expected to be played before mid-May at the earliest and likely later.
