Braves owner Liberty Media released the team’s first-quarter financial results Monday, showing sharp declines from the same period a year ago.
Even so, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said on a conference call with Wall Street analysts that the company is “pleased with what’s going on — other than on the field — at the Braves.”
For the quarter ending March 31, Liberty said the Braves’ revenue decreased by $1 million and their operating income before depreciation and amortization decreased by $15 million.
Liberty said the Braves’ drop in revenue “was primarily due to a non-recurring disbursement of approximately $2 million received from MLB in the first quarter of 2015.”
The company said the Braves’ drop in operating income was “primarily due to an increase in operating expenses driven by the acceleration of approximately $11 million in player salary expense as a result of released and injured players in the first quarter.”
That apparently refers principally to the March 28 release of high-salaried outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher, whose total 2016 compensation from the Braves counted against the first-quarter results. The release of another high-salaried player, outfielder Michael Bourn, came early in the second quarter.
For the first quarter, Liberty said the Braves had $4 million in revenue (down from $5 million in the first quarter of 2015) and a loss of $36 million in operating income before depreciation and amortization (compared to a loss of $21 million in the same period one year earlier).
To put the results in context, baseball teams typically recognize relatively little revenue in the first quarter because regular-season games don’t begin until the second quarter.
Liberty Media is required to release quarterly financial results for the Braves because the team has a publicly traded tracking stock. The stock has dropped from an opening price of $36 per share on April 18 to around $16, which puts the Braves' market capitalization below $700 million.
Maffei was asked Monday if the recent sale of the Seattle Mariners at a valuation of $1.4 billion should be seen as an applicable comparison for the Braves.
“Whether that’s the right valuation for the Braves or not, I’ll leave it to others,” Maffei said. “But it does suggest there’s some upside in the current trading price.”
Maffei said the Braves’ new stadium and mixed-use development “continue apace, on time and on budget.”
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