Liberty Media doesn't plan to sell Braves anytime soon

The long-awaited spinoff of the Atlanta Braves into a separate company is complete, but that doesn't mean the team will be sold anytime soon.

The team's CEO Derek Schiller told Front Office Sports that Liberty Media, the team's owner, hasn't indicated a sale is imminent.

“Liberty Media has given no indication of selling the team — in fact, quite the opposite,” Schiller told Eric Fisher. “They’ve been quite happy, and everything they’re telling us is to keep it going.”

Recent losing skid aside, ownership has to be more than happy about the team's performance in the last few years. Just under two seasons removed from winning the World Series, Atlanta has the looks of a team that will make another deep postseason run, if not win another title. The Braves have the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 62-33 and a comfortable 10.5-game lead over the Philadelphia Philles and Miami Marlins for the NL East crown. Eight of their players made the All-Star Game just over a week ago.

Moreover, the majority of the team's cornerstone players are locked in to long-term deals that will keep them in Atlanta into, if not entirely through, their prime years. Those deals have come with a dose of criticism, especially the egregiously low-value contract for second baseman Ozzie Albies compared to both his teammates and comparable talents at his position around the game. The Braves have also benefited from a stadium financing deal where Cobb County offered one of the most infamous publicly financed packages in history, and taxpayers are reportedly losing $15M per year on the deal. A separate report says that the Battery has finally turned a profit a decade after opening up.

Should the Braves ever get sold again, Liberty Media could net a handsome profit as the valuations of sports franchises — especially winning ones — have gone through the roof over the last decade. Forbes has the team listed as the eighth-most valuable in MLB at $2.6 billion as of March. At least $100 million was added in the days since Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc. formally debuted on the market, according to Bloomberg Law.