The Atlanta Braves' 2021 Financials Are Now Public and Show Why the MLB Owners Are Full of Shit
By virtue of being owned by publicly traded Liberty Media, the Atlanta Braves are the only Major League Baseball team whose financial information is made public. And with MLB still in the throes of its lockout, I'm sure the owners would have rather not had these numbers come out today.
The Braves had a whopping $568 million in revenue in 2021, with more than $100 million in profit. Despite what some of the owners would have you believe, owning an MLB team is still as lucrative a business as ever. If every team had to share the information Liberty Media does, baseball fans would be even more outraged than they are now. Even with 2021 including a World Series run, I'd guarantee there are still at least a handful of teams — you know exactly which ones they are — with better numbers than what we see here from the Braves.
Sure, ratifying a new CBA requires give and take from both sides. But we're down to the nitty gritty now and regular season games are in jeopardy. The owners have made it very clear they don't really care one way or another how many games don't get played, because they have safety nets like this to fall back on. Meanwhile, many players need their paychecks to be able to pay a mortgage.
If the owners are really doing as badly as they claim, every team should have no problem opening the books and showing the public their numbers. And yet, the only team doing it is the one that has to.
The Braves are World Champions, though. Just wanted that repeated in case anyone forgot.