1. SARASOTA VS. PALM BEACH FOR BRAVES' NEW SPRING HOME. As Sarasota County, Fla., tries to put together a deal to build a spring-training facility for the Braves, team officials haven't let go of the idea of returning their spring home to the Palm Beach area for 2018 and beyond. The Braves' top two executives, CEO Terry McGuirk and president John Schuerholz, met with Palm Beach County officials Tuesday and Wednesday about the possibility of a facility in the county where the team trained for 35 years before moving to Disney World in 1998. Click here for details.
2. CHANGE ORDERS APPROACH $100 MILLION ON FALCONS STADIUM. The construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium remains within its $1.4 billion budget despite $98.5 million in change orders by the Falcons, according to a status report prepared for a state agency. The report by Heery International for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority says the changes are covered by contingency funds in the budget and "the total project cost (is) still projected to be $1.4B." Details here.
3. BRAVES ARE WORTH $1.18 BILLION. At least that's the number Forbes magazine came up with in its 19th annual valuations of MLB teams. Just five years ago, Forbes valued the Braves at $482 million. Details here.
4. FALCONS, ATLANTA UNITED HIRE EXECUTIVE FROM PSL SALES FIRM. Michael Drake leaves Legends Global Sales, the firm handling sales of personal seat licenses for the Falcons, to join the Arthur Blank-owned teams as senior vice president and chief revenue officer-business operations. The teams also promoted Tim Zulawski to senior vice president and chief commercial officer. Details here.
5. SEC, COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF REACT TO GEORGIA 'RELIGIOUS LIBERTY' BILL. The SEC said it is "attentive" to the legislation and considers "numerous factors" in choosing sites for league championship events. The CFP said that it "will keep an eye on" the issue but "public policy matters are better left to the experts and voters to resolve." Details here.
6. BRAVES PLAN SEASON-LONG COUNTDOWN TO END OF TURNER FIELD. The season will open April 4 with a display on the left-field wall showing 81 games remaining at the 20-year-old stadium. At the end of the fifth inning of the opener, members of the 1997 Braves — the first team to play at The Ted — will remove the number 81 from the wall. At the next game, another "special guest" will remove the number 80. The countdown will continue at each home game through the Oct. 2 finale. Details (and a rendering of the wall display) here.
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