Sportonomics: Snippets on The Women's World Cup and The Atlanta Braves

Today, Thursday July 20th, there are multiple large stories in the sports business industry. The Women's World Cup 2023 kickoff is today and has made unprecedented growth over the last 4 years and Liberty Media has split from the Atlanta Braves organization, leading to a new outlook and new assumptions for both the organization and the media company.

Women’s World Cup:

Today, New Zealand’s Women’s World Cup team faces off against Norway in an opening match at Auckland’s Eden Park. Anne Peterson of the AP stated that the match will “have the biggest crowd for a soccer match in the country’s history, estimated to be at least 50,000.” Amy Tennery of REUTERS shares a similar sentiment that excitement is “building across Auckland” as the “culmination of years of effort bring the largest ever standalone women's sporting event to [Auckland’s] shores.” As of July 19th, a day before kickoff, 1.375 million tickets had been sold for the Women’s World Cup. The ticket sales are already exceeding the ticket sales of the 2019 tournament in France. Yet, last week, just 320,000 of the sold tickets were for matches in New Zealand with the rest going to Australia. It is clear that the Women’s World Cup is not only gaining popularity, but also gaining new fans and therefore boosting ticket sales drastically compared to previous Women's World Cups. Despite ticket sales lagging in smaller cities where matches will be played (Dunedin, Hamilton, and the capital city of Wellington) the buzz in those communities are at a new high according to the AP. Despite Auckland being a smaller city compared to that of Australia’s cities where matches will be played, sales have been better, partially thanks to the U.S playing twice there. FIFA President Gianni Infantino “issued a plea to New Zealanders to support the Women’s World Cup at his first formal appearance on the eve of the tournament." The 2023 Women’s World Cup will only inspire more fans and players to the sport, garnering world attention.

The Braves:

Liberty Media, an American mass media company founded in 1991, split ways with the Atlanta Braves baseball team in a reorganization of the company. The company had three divisions reflecting its ownership stakes in Formula One, SiriusXM, and the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team. After splitting from The Braves, Liberty Media traded down 2.39% in the stock market, reflecting that the difference “will be seen by shareholders, but generally, not much will change” with the organization, according to Colin Beazley of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Braves Chair Terry McGuirk said it is “business as usual” for the team, adding there are “no changes to how we operate.” The sudden split will not affect the Braves’ will to pursue free agents or make trades at the deadline on August 1st: The Braves will not have “any more money to pursue free agents or to make trades at the deadline, nor will they have any less.” McGuirk, Braves Chair, said that the main benefit of the move is “stockholder transparency.” He believes that it will “present the Braves’ economic situation in a clearer way,” and that “stockholders will appreciate it.” Liberty Media had been considering the move for well over a year and the corporation announced intentions to make the move in November. Some have speculated that this reorganization could make it easier to sell the team and while it will make the Braves’ value clearer, McGuirk disagreed. McGuirk added that there have been no conversations or indications that the Braves will be sold anytime soon. Whether that’s true though, only time can tell.