Here are five things we learned in Atlanta sports business this week:
1. Liberty Media's reaction to the Braves' poor start. John Malone, the billionaire chairman of Braves owner Liberty Media, was asked at a stockholders meeting Monday when the team, then 0-5, would win its first game. "It'll be awhile," Malone answered (accurately as it turned out). "Listen, we're rebuilding." With Liberty on the verge of issuing a separate tracking stock for the team, Malone also told investors that the Braves "now are a fairly major real-estate business as opposed to just a baseball club." Click here for more of Malone's comments.
2. Sponsor patches coming to Hawks' (and other NBA teams') game jerseys. NBA owners Friday approved a plan for teams to sell jersey advertising, beginning with the 2017-18 season. The sponsor patches, approximately 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches, will appear on the front left of game jerseys in what the NBA described as a three-year trial. Each of the league's 30 teams will be responsible for selling its own jersey sponsorship. "Jersey sponsorships (will) provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams, and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "We're always thinking about innovative ways the NBA can remain competitive in a global marketplace."
3. The latest on the Braves' search for a new spring-training home. A proposal to build a stadium on a site near Naples, Fla., was rejected Tuesday by county commissioners there because of nearby residences. Talks continue with officials in Palm Beach and Sarasota counties as the Braves seek public funding for a spring facility. Click here for more.
4. An honor for a key Falcons executive. Tim Zulawski, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for Falcons parent company AMB Sports & Entertainment, was honored by Sports Business Journal at a Los Angeles event Thursday as a member of the publication's annual "40 Under 40" class, which recognizes 40 top sports-industry executives and leaders under age 40. Zulawski, 39, who has been with the Falcons for 13 years, spearheaded negotiations with Mercedes-Benz on the naming-rights deal for the team's new stadium.
5. No end in sight to surging baseball salaries. See Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution or myAJC.com this weekend for a special report on MLB salaries, still soaring 40 years after Ted Turner's signing of Andy Messersmith for the Braves ushered in the sport's free-agency era.
