Atlanta Braves’ Spending: A Tale of 2 Eras

A look at Braves’ payroll numbers over the past 3 decades suggests that it is getting harder to keep pace – thus a change in team-building philosophy has been necessary.

Wikipedia lists 5 different sets of owners for the Atlanta Braves franchise since the team moved out of Boston:

• Lou Perini, et al – including his Corporation – 1944-1962.  This is the time in which the team moved from Boston to Milwaukee and won 1 World Championship along the way.
• A group headed by William Bartholomay (which included the Perini Corp) – 1962-1976.  These owners moved the team from Milwaukee to Atlanta.
• Ted Turner and TBS (1976-1996).  Turner was ousted after the Time Warner merger with TBS, but not before seeing the lone World Series title Atlanta had earned.
• Time Warner (1996-2007).  Team moved into Turner Field following the 1996 Olympics; Turner
• Liberty Media (2007-present)

Payroll figures for MLB teams are available from a couple of sources back to at least 1985.  BaseballChronology.com compiled them here.  BaseballCube.com covers 1998-present.

I will note that you may quibble with the numbers somewhat from year to year.  However, the hope is that by using consistent resources, they will have consistent methodologies in recording the data, and thus will provide reliable results for comparing year-to-year and team-to-team figures… which is the goal of this exercise.

From these resources, I have built 2 charts covering the last 31 seasons of payroll changes in baseball, roughly cut in two equal chunks at the year 2000.  The BaseballChronology numbers are used for Chart 1; BaseballCube for Chart 2.

1985-2000 Spending

Graphic credit: TomahawkTake.com

There is a lot going on here, so let’s break it down.

• The body of the graph shows green and purple sections.  These represent the league minimum and maximum payrolls.
• The bright green line running between the green (minimum) and purple (maximum) follows the payroll amounts for the Atlanta Braves in each of these years.
• You will note that in 1986 the Braves had the highest payroll in baseball.  (There’s a slight ‘perspective’ angle there, so it may not seem to line up with 1986).
• The red line follows the rank of the Braves in overall payroll for each year.  From 1985-87 and again in 1992-2000, the team was Top 7 in payroll.
• Given league size in 1989, that rank of 23rd is indeed significant.  However, the $9.07 million payroll was less than half of the Red Sox’ leading outlay that year as the Braves experienced their first “tear down”.
• Note the explosive growth in league payroll between 1990 and 2000… the maximum rising over 500% during that decade.

The 1990’s growth in payrolls seems to correspond to multiple events:

• the end of the collusion era (decided after the 1987 season)
• Baseball Labor strife in 1990, leading ultimately to the 1994 baseball strike
• the resulting onset of multi-million dollar contracts in baseball and multiple sports

Through it all, Ted Turner was certainly at the forefront of the spending – even as the salaries began exploding in the mid-90’s.

2000-2016 Spending

Graphic credit: TomahawkTake.com

This graphic relates a substantially different picture of the last decade-and-a-half.

One observation:  spending reductions clearly did not begin when Liberty Media took over ownership in 2007.  Those changes were already well underway under Time Warner’s watch.

True:  Time Warner did spend the Braves in the Top 7 for the first seven years of their ownership, but once those early contracts began to wane, they were not replaced as readily with other ever-increasing contracts.

It is notable that spending on the Braves has been almost straight-line flat since 2000: never exceeding $111 million; never below $83 million.  It looks even more so with maximum payrolls doubling again since 2000.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves: Best Option at Shortstop Now That Dansby Swanson is Gone
• Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos’ views on the offseason so far
• Braves News: Dansby goes to the Cubs, prospect rankings, more
• The Paradox of Dansby Swanson
• Report: Dansby Swanson to sign seven year deal with Chicago Cubs

Yet as league-wide increases have occurred, the Braves’ spending has indeed fallen further behind that of their peers during the new millennium.

It seems evident that Time Warner wanted to run the team more like a business operation – Liberty Media has maintained that during their tenure.

However, the trends have truly been unsustainable, and something has had to give.

It is notable that Time Warner left the Braves with the gift of a terrible TV contract in 2007 – one that will continue to under-perform until 2027.  That clearly hasn’t helped matters, though Liberty Media has been doing everything possible to remedy the situation in the meantime.

Hence, in late 2013, Liberty Media took the extraordinary and strong step of attempting the augment their revenue model.  That’s why we now have SunTrust Park and Battery Atlanta.

The result?  The first notable bump in team payroll is in progress:  Opening Day payroll for 2017 will be at least $117 million, and could still go higher.  It’s not back into the Top Ten yet (the Orioles reached that mark with $148 million in 2016), but it’s a start in a positive direction.

Next: No Piking! But this Kid brings his own Hammer

Hopefully, this “new” business model will make the Braves more competitive in the marketplace and on the field… though it appears John Coppolella is already doing his level-best to augment the new money with better talent to start with.