The Atlanta Braves have watched baseball franchise values climb into territory that would have seemed almost absurd not long ago. Now, one of the publicly traded club’s largest institutional investors says the Braves should find out exactly what someone will pay.
Breach Inlet Capital Management, a South Carolina investment firm that reported owning roughly $40 million in Braves stock at the end of June, publicly called Monday for the organization to explore a sale or potentially take the company private.
The timing is deliberate.
The San Diego Padres were sold earlier this year at a record $3.9 billion valuation. That record did not last long. The Los Angeles Angels surpassed it this month with a sale valuing the franchise at $4 billion.
Chris Colvin, Breach’s founder and a lifelong Braves fan, argues that Atlanta should take advantage of that market rather than assume franchise prices will keep rising indefinitely.
Record Prices Meet a Looming MLB Lockout
His argument is not simply that baseball teams are expensive right now. Colvin also sees potential trouble ahead.
MLB owners are expected to initiate a lockout in December amid labor negotiations with players, with a salary cap among the major points of contention. An extended work stoppage could introduce uncertainty that is currently missing from record-setting franchise transactions.
“If it’s a fairly short lockout, then I think the stock goes down, but that’s probably a buying opportunity,” Colvin told The Athletic. “The risk is if this turns into an extended lockout, I do fear what damage that could do to baseball’s brand.”
Colvin stressed that a prolonged lockout damaging baseball is not his base-case expectation. But from an investor’s perspective, that possibility can’t be ignored.
“The closer we get to a lockout, or if we get in a lockout, then I think that will start to impact the potential values that a buyer would be willing to pay,” he said.
Another financial complication is coming for Atlanta.
Colvin pointed to a tax-law change affecting public companies that he says could cost the Braves more than $20 million beginning next year by restricting the organization’s ability to deduct player salaries from income. In his view, that means less cash available for the roster and a potential competitive disadvantage.
That situation is particularly unusual because publicly traded baseball organizations are rare. Only the Braves and Toronto Blue Jays fall into that category.
Breach Wants the Braves to Test the Market
Breach nevertheless cannot force the issue through its shares. The firm reported holding 778,518 Braves shares at the end of June, making it one of the 20 largest institutional stakes according to Breach. Still, those shares do not carry voting authority over company decisions. Former Liberty Media chairman John Malone retains what Colvin described as “effective voting control.”
This also is not the first time Colvin has raised the possibility of selling.
He said he has discussed the subject during the past couple of years with Braves management, including chairman Terry McGuirk and president Derek Schiller. According to Colvin, he was told that a sale ultimately rests with the board of directors and that management sees additional value ahead from MLB’s next national media agreements, expected to begin in 2029.
Colvin does not dismiss that argument. His question is why Atlanta should not test the market anyway.
“My point is, why not at least explore and test the market to see what the value is?” he said.
The recent Angels transaction gives him an obvious comparison.
Forbes estimated the Angels generated $377 million in revenue during 2025. A $4 billion valuation therefore represents roughly 10 times annual revenue, reportedly a record revenue multiple for an MLB franchise.
Atlanta reported $732 million in 2025 revenue, and the Braves have something else Colvin believes should command a premium: the substantial real-estate development surrounding Truist Park.
He argues that buyers paying record prices for the Angels and Padres are already factoring future growth into what they are willing to spend. If that is true, waiting for MLB’s 2029 media contracts may not necessarily be required for the Braves to receive credit for their potential future value.
A Decade-Long Investment Reaches a Crossroads
A larger financial debate underlies all of this. MLB franchise transactions have generally produced lower prices and revenue multiples than teams in leagues such as the NFL and NBA. With another round of labor negotiations approaching, the economics of owning a baseball team will likely face additional scrutiny.
Colvin sees that valuation gap through an investor’s eyes.
“I’m a value investor,” he said. “It’s kind of become the value league.”
Breach has firsthand experience with the Braves as an investment. The firm, which also owns a stake in Manchester United, bought Braves shares roughly a decade ago. Colvin originally expected to have sold the position by now.
Instead, Breach is still holding.
The investment has performed better than Colvin expected when the firm bought in, although he stopped short of calling the return exceptional.
“They’ve also outperformed what I would have expected back then, and it’s generated, I would say, a good return for us,” he said. “I wouldn’t say great.”
Now Breach wants to know whether the biggest return might come from selling the entire organization while buyers are still putting record valuations on Major League Baseball teams.
The Braves declined to comment on Breach’s proposal, while MLB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
