The Braves’ revenue declined by $10 million in the third quarter this year to $109 million, compared to the same period last year, team owner Liberty Media disclosed Tuesday.
The team’s operating profit before depreciation and amortization decreased by $14 million in the July-through-September quarter to $16 million, Liberty said in its quarterly earnings report.
The company attributed the decreases to “a decline in ticket sales and broadcast revenue as a result of having … 35 home games in (the third quarter of) 2016 versus 42 home games during the same period in 2015.”
The third-quarter declines came after Liberty previously reported improved financial results for the second quarter, when there were more home games.
For the full season, the Braves’ announced home attendance of 2,020,914 was up slightly from the year before (2,001,392). Those two seasons were the Braves’ two lowest in attendance in the past 26 years as the team posted back-to-back records of 67-95 and 68-93.
Speaking about the Braves’ on-field results during a quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts Tuesday, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said the team “finished the second half of the season with a very strong performance after a very slow start.”
He mentioned that the Braves had a 37-35 record after the All-Star break and won 20 of their final 30 games.
Maffei praised the hiring of Brian Snitker as manager for next season. Snitker served in an interim capacity for much of this past season.
“We’re excited to have him back,” Maffei said, “based on his performance in the back half of this year.”
The Braves will move next season to their new Cobb County stadium, SunTrust Park. The organization expects revenue to increase significantly at the new ballpark, but the move also comes with increased debt.
Liberty Media disclosed Tuesday that the Braves’ debt increased by $75 million in the third quarter “primarily as a result of additional borrowings … for funding the ballpark and mixed-use development.”
The Braves’ total debt at the end of September was $220 million, Liberty chief financial officer Mark Carleton said.
Liberty said that, as of Sept. 30, $496 million had been spent on the stadium, “of which approximately $373 million of funding was provided by Cobb County and related entities and $123 million provided by the Braves.”
In addition, Liberty said $238 million had been spent on the adjacent mixed-use development, “of which approximately $27 million was provided by (joint-venture) partners’ equity” and the rest by the Braves.
The Braves are one of the few U.S. sports teams with publicly traded stock and are thus required to report their financial performance to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission each quarter.
In the previously announced second-quarter results, the Braves had $131 million in revenue and $12 million in operating profit before depreciation and amortization for the April-through-June period.
MLB teams generate the vast majority of their revenue in the second and third quarters each year. The Braves will report financial results for all of 2016 early next year.
