Braves Finally Sold

After what seems like years of negotiations and haggling, Liberty Media finally finalized its deal for the Atlanta Braves today, pending MLB approval. The driver of this deal has always been the federal tax consequences of Liberty's Time Warner stock swap for the team.

Braves fans have longed for the days when Ted Turner would wheel and deal for expensive free agents, but those days were over the minute Ted went on the Time Warner board after his buy out. John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox worked their magic for a few years, but eventually Time Warner's tight purse strings and the big payroll of the Mets ended the Braves run of playoff appearances. Braves fans have since wanted an individual tycoon owning the team, not a corporate behemoth accountable to shareholders.

I expect Liberty Media to demand just as much efficiency as Time Warner. So, it looks like Braves fans need to wait for one more sale before they get too excited. There were rumors that Arthur Blank was going to buy the team from Liberty. Hopefully, we'll find out soon if those rumors were true.