Fangraphs: A glimpse into Baseball's books.

[weams]

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-braves-profits-provide-glimpse-into-baseballs-books/

 

Quote

 ...profits weren’t always the main consideration for the Braves, indicating that “historically, the measurement was we didn’t lose money.” Maffei’s remarks are consistent with statements from another team owner, Rogers Communications, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays, though the Blue Jays’ financials are harder to trace because Rogers owns a whole host of assets along with the baseball team.

Quote

... “surfacing value” would likely come in the form of realizing the profits from selling the team, as Rogers might not be getting “credit” if the team isn’t reaping huge profits. Then there’s the matter of Rogers also broadcasting Blue Jays games, which might further cloud the revenues from the baseball team. (The Braves used to benefit from some of that same confusion back when Ted Turner owned the club and TBS showed Braves games, but the financial model has shifted, and the Braves now have one of the worst local television contracts in baseball.) It is clear the calculus of franchise ownership is more complicated than mere gate sales.

Quote

... goal was simply not to lose money, something Liberty Media could afford to do because the value of the franchise kept rising. While the Braves seem to have lost $45 million in operating revenue from 2014 to the start of 2017, Forbes estimated the club has gained $770 million in value, from $730 million in 2014 to $1.5 billion before the start of the 2017 season. Even if there are reasons to be skeptical of the precision of Forbes’ numbers given how closed off baseball’s books are, we can look to franchise sales over the past 30 years and see that teams have generally enjoyed an average annual gain (even after accounting for inflation) of 8%. 

 

[weams]

Quote

Last year’s chilly winter for free agents caused no growth in payrolls despite increased revenues. It’s fair for players to be concerned about their declining share of revenues. When middle-of-the-road franchises go from breaking even to turning big profits on top of big gains in franchise valuations, it’s not too hard to imagine the piles of cash underneath the owners of the bigger-market clubs.