MLB’s biggest and brightest stars have descended upon Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia for All-Star Week.
However, the $672 million stadium is just one piece to the massive Battery Atlanta complex that has every sports owner salivating.
The Battery Atlanta is a 2.25 million square-foot economic and financial juggernaut filled with apartments, offices, hotels, restaurants and other various entertainment options, with Truist Park at the center of it all.
The Braves may be 11 games under .500 after big expectations heading into the year, but they’re still rather a shining example to the rest of baseball.
That has everything to do with their success off the field, rather than on it. Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred believes the Braves and what they have done with the surrounding area are the gold standard of what everyone wants.
“Everybody, looks at this model, frankly, with envy,” Manfred said at a Braves investor event last month.
Aside from the $672 million poured into from Braves owners Liberty Media to build Truist Park, an additional $452 million was put towards building The Battery Atlanta, bringing the total over $1.1 billion.
The investment has paid off handsomely.
Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal dug into the exploding finances that the Braves have been reaping.
“Nine million people visited the Battery last year—three times as many who bought a ticket to watch the Braves play baseball in 2024,” Diamond reported.
“A publicly traded corporation, Atlanta Braves Holdings reported $67.3 million in mixed-use development revenue last year, up 14 per cent from 2023. Quarter 1 of 2025 is up 23 per cent from the same period in 2024.
“That’s a small piece of the Braves’ total earnings, but it’s a critical chunk. Nearly half of the Braves’ net local revenue—which includes things like ticket sales, media rights deals and concessions—goes into a pot that is shared among the 30 MLB clubs.
“Because money derived from the Battery isn’t considered “baseball revenue” under the sport’s collective bargaining agreement, the Braves keep it all for themselves.
“Overall, the impact has been enormous. In 2016, the final year the Braves played at Turner Field, their total revenues were $264 million.
“Last year, they were $663 million.”
Not bad for a team that has surprisingly gone the other direction when it comes to the standings this season.
They have made the playoffs the last seven years, won the World Series in 2021, and have one of the game’s most exciting players in Ronald Acuña Jr. so they are far from a dysfunctional organization.
Truist Park opened eight years ago in 2017, so all Braves fans have known in their new home is success.
This year has been a disappointment, but it happens. While the standings may not show it, the Braves still seem to be happy with what they are bringing in.
“If you’re coming here and there’s no baseball game that day, there are still fun things that are going to be destination-oriented driving you to this experience,” Braves chief executive Derek Schiller told the WSJ.
“And, you know, making the cash register ring.”
At the end of the day, sports is a business. Whether the fans like to hear it or not, that’s the truth.
And while the Braves may not be winning on the field at the moment, they are most certainly winning off of it.
All you have to do is turn on the TV and look at this week’s All-Star activities, and you can feel the Battery and its juice from your couch.