If anyone has been to Truist Park lately or even just watched Atlanta Braves games period over the last year, you will not be shocked to hear that the Braves have been very, very profitable in 2022. It seemed like every weekend homestand was selling out, attendance records were getting shattered left and right, and the eye test alone showed that The Battery has been a huge success and has turned into a big hub for activity in the Atlanta area.
If you needed any more confirmation that the Braves have been printing money lately, one only needs to look at the most recent financial quarterly report which was posted on Friday. In that report, the Braves announced that between July through September, the team took in around $252 million in revenue.
News from @DougRobersonAJC: The Braves posted revenue from July through September of $252 million, according to a quarterly report issued by Liberty Media.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) November 4, 2022
The revenue increased by $18 million, or 8%, compared with the third quarter of 2021.https://t.co/lHDK9KDN17
The Atlanta Braves are just printing money right now
As Roberson (and Toscano by proxy) noted in their reporting, that revenue was up 8% over what the Braves took in during the third quarter of last year. It is probably fair to guess that the fourth quarter this year won’t measure up to last year given that the Braves won the World Series during that quarter in 2021, but it has still been a highly impressive year on the balance sheets nonetheless.
Again, this isn’t hard to understand. The Braves sold out more than half of their home games this year, sold over 3.2 million tickets, and they have a surrounding development that is designed to bring money in from Atlanta Braves fans. Revenues and profits are different and I am sure that we will see some clever accounting from the team as the offseason goes on to explain all of that.
That said, this does give some credence to the idea that the Braves should be increasing their payroll again. We have noted previously that the Braves payroll, as it stands, isn’t currently swimming with room for free agent signings, but with all of this money coming in and the comments from Braves executives that they would like to push towards a top 5 payroll in baseball, we could see some more growth there in 2023 (and maybe beyond?).