Release Date: May 08, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
- Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc (BATRA, Financial) reported strong demand with multiple sellouts and 93% of ticket capacity sold season to date, indicating robust fan engagement and revenue potential.
- The company successfully completed renovations at Truist Park, introducing new premium boxes and expanded retail, which are already generating incremental revenue.
- New sponsorship deals with major brands like Ball Corp and Lexus were announced, enhancing the revenue streams and leveraging high demand for renewals of existing partnerships.
- Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc (BATRA) is positioned for another successful year both on and off the field, with strategic initiatives and upgrades likely to boost overall performance.
- The company's integration of commercial and marketing functions across various segments is expected to achieve better harmony and cost savings, enhancing operational efficiency.
Negative Points
- The company faces uncertainties related to the viability of Diamond Sports, which could impact the broadcasting of Braves games and potentially affect revenue from media rights.
- There are ongoing carriage disputes with Comcast, which could limit the reach and viewership of Braves games, potentially impacting fan engagement and advertising revenue.
- The potential return of broadcasting rights from Diamond Sports requires careful management and strategic planning to ensure continued revenue growth and market penetration.
- Increased payroll investments reflect higher operating costs, which could impact the financial performance if not offset by corresponding revenue increases.
- The need for continuous adaptation to consumer feedback and market conditions requires agile management and could pose challenges if not effectively addressed.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you talk about the trajectory of team payments as a percentage of pre-team EBITDA? Over the last couple of years, that's sort of declined about 300 basis points. I know there's structures in the splits of the teams that we're not aware of, but could we assume that kind of operating leverage again in 2024? And then anything you could say about the sponsorship pipeline at Formula One. It seems to be that revenue stream is slowing down a bit. Obviously, we can't really know what's happening there? Thanks.
A: Brian Wendling, Liberty Media Corp - Principal Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer: Yes, Vijay, this is Brian. I'll take the team payment one. We'll try to give you the most information we can here without giving you the full model. But over the past few years, as F1 has grown free team share EBITDA and EBIT under the current Concorde agreement, we've moved through various brand bands of pre-team share EBITDA, where the payout to the teams has decreased as a percentage for each band. We're now at a point where the percentage to the teams is fixed for incremental EBITDA and EBIT through the end of this current Concorde agreement. We do expect to continue to have leverage in the team payments as a percent of pre-team share EBIT this year or adjusted OIBDA on our reported results, but not at that incremental rate that you noted that we saw from 2022 to 2023.
Q: Good morning. First of all, congrats on Lando winning the Miami GP. It's always good to get a new face top of the podium. I've actually got two questions not related to F1, one on Live Nation wants SIRI. Greg, on Live Nation, you comment on the pending antitrust case against Live Nation? And then also, Greg, you mentioned the car app and seeing some sort of early positive signs when are we going to know if that was successful? Is that sort of a second half thing we should be looking for? And then looking forward, do you feel comfortable, I guess, all else being equal economically that SIRI can get back to positive subscriber growth? Thanks.
A: Gregory Maffei, Liberty Media Corp - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director: App and economic growth. So look, I think on the discussion around Live Nation antitrust issues, the management team led by Joe summarized it well on their call last Thursday. The DOJ investigation appears focused on specific business practices within divisions of the company, not the merger or the business structure. Live doesn't believe the breakup of Live Nation Ticketmaster would be legally defensible remedy. And beyond that, we're kind of limited to what was said on that live earnings call if you listen to that.
Q: Hey. Thanks for the question. For Stefano or Greg, can you talk to F1 TV and how we should think of this as a possible growth driver for media rights this year. I wanted to understand better how the price increases have been received so far along with the new user experience? And then on Quint, I appreciate the commentary and the strategic value to F1, but maybe you can also discuss Quint on a stand-alone basis, the market for premium hospitality? What's the kind of growth drivers over the long-term? And just for Brian, on this, anything to note on the seasonality for Quint with revenue or margin? Thanks.
A: Gregory Maffei, Liberty Media Corp - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director: All right. Stefano, do you want to start.
Q: Thanks. Good morning. Greg, now that you've had at least the public announcement with MotoGP, I'm just wondering if you had any update on opportunities that may have emerged or conversations you've had in terms of what you can do with that business now that you're â all the partners of MotoGP know that Liberty is going to be acquiring most of the company. Anything that you would add from the call you did a couple of months ago? And then, Stefano, I think last quarter, you said sort of conquered agreement. The next one would be something you guys could maybe finish up pretty quickly, not a lot of controversy. I wanted to see if there was an update there, particularly as it relates to Brian's point about team splits being fixed going forward for this deal, any thoughts on how we might want to think about what that might look like in the next one? Thank you, guys.
A: Gregory Maffei, Liberty Media Corp - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director: Thanks, Ben. So on MotoGP, when we â after the announcement, we had an outpouring of interest from both potential broadcast partners, OEMs, potential sites, all of which are very interesting. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the regulatory process, we will be formulating those amongst ourselves and our plans, but we really can't reach out and do anything concrete with the MotoGP management team to avoid gun jumping until we have regulatory approval. So we are conjuring plans. We have some really good ideas, I think, I hope, and we hope to get permission to execute on those sooner rather than later.
Q: Hey. Greg, thanks for the questions. Maybe for Greg on F1 media rights, I'm curious if you could talk more about the strategy and some of the renewals you called out? In the release, it looks like you took a bit good bit duration in MENA, maybe align the Nordics with Sky. I know some of the Americas and Asian contracts are up in 2025. Anything more to add to that conversation or that strategy on media rights would be helpful?
A: Gregory Maffei, Liberty Media Corp - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director: Thanks for the question, Stephen. I think in general, on media rights, we've been very happy with the renewals and interest we've seen. As you noted, some of the good renewals we've had that have been very attractive. We continue to see strong demand. And we continue to see â as we talked about F1 TV, we continue to see interesting ways in which F1 TV can be an asset working with our media partners. The U.S. renewal is obviously out ahead. It's been interesting to watch some of the most recent renewals around either other motor sports or other sports in general in the U.S. And hopefully, those give us some confidence about given where the demand we've seen both among broadcasters and the like and the level of interest in races like I've obviously mentioned already the Miami one, what that will lead to.
Q: Got it. And then just on race promotion, have, I think, 10 races up for renewal over the next two years. Stefano, you called out the 11 interested cities being serious contenders for GPs this
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
