ATLANTA — A new wrinkle in the Atlanta Braves business operations begins this morning, Wednesday July 19, with stock in the team publicly available for the first time.
It comes as a result of a business move by Liberty Media, the parent company of the Braves, earlier this week. Liberty split the Braves off from the rest of its properties to create "Atlanta Braves Holdings, Inc." which will be traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
According to a Liberty release, beginning at 5 p.m. last night the company began redeeming outstanding shares of Liberty Braves common stock in exchange for Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock.
Atlanta Braves Holdings Series A and Series C common stock have been approved for listings beginning with the open of markets on Wednesday, according to the release. The Series A stock will trade under the ticker "BATRA" and the Series C stock will trade under the ticket "BATRK."
"Atlanta Braves Holdings Series B common stock will be quoted on the OTC Markets under the symbol 'BATRB,'" the release added.
According to MarketWatch, Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc. Series A stock - BATRA - was trading at $43.79 a share in after hours markets. The BATRK Series C stock was trading at $42.01.
The Nasdaq market opens for official trading at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Speaking Tuesday about the new business arrangement, Braves President Derek Schiller said it wouldn't disrupt the team's operations but could give fans an opportunity to feel a new level of investment in the team.
"If you're a fan of this team, you can also become an owner of the team," he said. "You know, you can own stock, and that in a way is very exciting. So while I don't think that translates to necessarily some sort of change in the way we're gonna operate our business, I think it maybe creates even a further connection that fans can have with their team."
Several other pro sports teams can be traded or effectively traded publicly - you can buy and sell stock in MSG Sports Corp., which owns the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, and stock can be purchased for Rogers Communications, the parent company of the Toronto Blue Jays.
How to buy Atlanta Braves stock
If you're interested in buying some of the team's stock, you can do so through any standard stock-purchasing method, including personal trading platforms like ETrade or Robinhood or through your broker if you use one.
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