Good morning. This is Leadoff, the early buzz in Atlanta sports.
Braves owner Liberty Media, rarely visible around the team, plans to hold its annual meeting of stockholders at SunTrust Park this spring.
Liberty said Wednesday that the meeting will be held at the Braves’ “headquarters” in the new stadium on May 24.
The Braves will play the Pittsburgh Pirates that night in the third game of a four-game home series. Presumably, Liberty executives and board members will attend a game or two during the series.
In recent years, the annual meeting has been held in Liberty’s home base of Englewood, Colo. The meetings typically include a question-and-answer session for stockholders with Liberty Chairman John Malone and CEO Greg Maffei.
The stockholders tend to be more inquisitive about Liberty's other businesses than about the Braves, although at last year's annual meeting in August, one stockholder posed a series of questions about the construction of SunTrust Park, the real-estate development around the stadium and MLB's deal to sell a stake in a video streaming company to Disney.
Earlier last year – a few days after a Liberty-issued tracking stock in the Braves began trading publicly in April — Liberty executives held a meeting with Wall Street analysts in an office building overlooking the SunTrust Park construction site. The executives then attended a Braves-Dodgers game at Turner Field.
Catch up on the latest about SunTrust Park:
* * *
So why hasGeorgia Tech's basketball team been so much more productive offensively in the NIT than previously this season?
Ken Sugiura explores that question here.
* * *
Two former high school teammates in Alpharetta will be on opposing teams when Arizona and Xavier meet in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 tonight.
Mitchell Northam has the story here.
