A push is building around the Braves’ ownership structure, and one major investor wants Liberty Media to cash out.
According to a report from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, Breach Inlet Capital Management is publicly pressing Liberty Media to sell the Braves, pointing to the team’s business value and the recent wave of MLB ownership changes. The list of clubs changing hands in recent years has already included the Orioles, Rays, Padres, and Angels, while the Nationals and Twins also explored sales before backing away.
The Braves sit in a rare spot as one of just two MLB teams that are publicly traded, alongside the Blue Jays, and their value has been closely watched for years. Breach Inlet’s case is rooted in that reality: the club has already produced a hefty profit for Liberty Media, and a sale now could potentially bring back even more than the Padres’ $3.9 billion and the Angels’ $4 billion valuation.
Chris Colvin of Breach Inlet also raised another concern in Drellich’s reporting: the looming lockout could damage baseball’s brand, and the Braves are also facing an estimated $20 million annual hit once a new tax law affecting publicly traded companies’ payrolls takes effect.
Still, a sale does not appear close. Liberty Media’s John Malone has shown no sign that he wants to move the Braves, and the team has told Colvin and others pushing for a sale that waiting until the national media contracts kick in around 2029 would likely capture more value.
That’s the heart of the debate. Colvin believes the risk of waiting may be bigger than the reward of holding on, while the Braves appear to believe the opposite.
He also argued that if the lockout drags into the 2027 regular season, baseball teams will lose value as fans turn away from both sides. “This is the entertainment business, and if you aren't putting a product out for people to watch, they will go elsewhere and may never come back.”
One possible answer would be taking the Braves private again to avoid the tax issues and the scrutiny that comes with being publicly traded, but that would take time and there’s been no indication that path is being considered. For now, the expectation is that the Braves stay put - even if the pressure to sell keeps building.
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