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Home , Cristian Pache, Dansby Swanson, Liberty Media, Ozzie Albies, Touki Toussaint

August 20, 2018 g.research, LLC One Corporate Center Rye, NY 10580-1422 g.research, LLC Tel (914) 921-5150 www.gabellisecurities.com

Liberty Braves Group

(BATRA - $26.41 - )

20 Year Old Ronald Acuna Jr. and 21 Year Old All-Star Source: Bleacher Report, research, LLC

Playoff Push

John Tinker g.research, LLC 2018 (914) 921-8348 -Please Refer To Important Disclosures On The Last Page Of This Report-

g.research, LLC One Corporate Center g.research, LLC August 20, 2018 Rye, NY 10580-1422 Tel (914) 921-5150 www.gabellisecurities.com

Liberty Braves Group (BATRA - $26.41 - NASDAQ) Playoff Push - Buy Year EBITDA EV/EBITDA PMV Dividend: None Current Return: Nil 2020P $90 20.9x $43 A Shares 10.2 million 2019P 88 21.5 42 B Shares 1.0 " 2018E 76 24.9 37 K Shares 48.8 " 2017A 7 NM 34 52-Week Range: $27.02 - $21.35 COMPANY OVERVIEW The were founded in 1871 and are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in US. The Liberty Braves Group moved to the new 41.5K seat SunTrust Park, Cobb County from Atlanta in February 2017. Liberty Media Corporation recapitalized the Atlanta Braves as a in April 2016 along with Liberty SiriusXM and Liberty Formula One. Assets include the Major League team, the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Braves' stadium and the Battery real estate project. is a 46 acre mixed use development with residential and commercial property which feeds off the stadium (16 acres) on 82 acres with initial completion in 2018 and 20 acres to be completed by 2022. We project a PMV of $42 per share in 2019.

Reason for Comment – Playoff Push We are raising our 2019 PMV to $42 from $35 per share based on a playoff push and return to form. Previous valuation spurts have been driven by higher broadcast rights and the new stadium. Our increase is based on raising the baseball team revenue multiple to 5.2x from 5.0x 2019 revenue for $2,275 million, or $38 per share, which is still lower than last year’s sale of the less storied Marlins franchise for 5.7x previous years revenue. Valuation drivers include:

 The combination of higher than anticipated second year attendance at its new stadium - up approximately 3.5% to 32K, including 13 sell-outs. Attendance is being driven by the team’s success on the field and probable first playoff appearance since 2013 and the possibility of a World Series run.

 The Braves low payroll (estimated base cost $130M vs $225M) is effectively locked in for three/four years with a young “controllable” core and a top farm system producing players like 21-year old 2018 All-Star, Ossie Albies and 20-year old Ronald Acuna Jr. A manageable payroll results in our projecting approximately $80M a year in team EBITDA.

 The Forbes’ Braves valuation has increased 41% to $1,650 million over the last three years, in-line with MLB’s 39% increase. By contrast, superior team performance over the same three years resulting in winning the 2017 World Series Championship produced a 106% increase in valuation for the Houston Astros.

 Mr. Tepper’s acquisition of the NFL Panthers for a record $2.3 billion suggests that sports team ownership remains a combination of the ultimate trophy and recognition that sports teams are content as new internet buyers emerge for their streaming rights.

 The MLB continues to build “hidden assets” after the BAMTech sale (for approximately $75M per team) by generating fees providing data for online betting.

 The high stadium attendance supports the mixed use real estate development, which is continuing to expand with the new Thyssenkrupp Elevator Americas and Aloft Hotel. The Battery offers three of the top ten grossing restaurants in Atlanta; the looming residential property sale price is a speculated $170M and management has suggested an IRR of 22%.

Investment Case We have always believed that the stock should appreciate with improving economics and without a team sale, similar to that of Madison Square Garden (MSG). Controlling shareholder Dr. Malone’s recent resignation from the and boards (although remaining as a Director Emeritus on Charter) suggests a focusing of his empire. The current gating factor is that Liberty media’s tracking stock structure currently precludes the Braves sale as the only ATB (Active Trading Business). Liberty CEO Maffei recently suggested that the problem of the heavily discounted Liberty SiriusXM could be resolved by a “GLIBA” type transaction which might free up the Braves. Malone, America’s largest individual landowner, may be happy to let the real estate assets play out and with a young inexpensive team await the outcome of the new MLB broadcast contract in 2021.

Table 1 Liberty Braves Group Earnings Model 2016A-2022P (in millions, except per share data) '17-'22 FYE 12/31 2016 2017A 2018E 2019P 2020P 2021P 2022P CAGR Revenue $262 $386 $453 $485 $498 $511 $526 6.4% EBITDA (16)7768890939669.2 TEV / EBITDA NM NM 24.9x 21.5x 20.9x 20.2x 19.6x Capex ($360) ($219) ($35) ($35) ($21) ($22) ($22) Source: Public data and g.research; 2017 adds back $13M contractual write-off - 1 -

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Stadium Attendance Increasing Second year attendance is up approximately 3.5% to 32K, including 13 sell-outs and just surpassing 32,000 for the first time since 2007. Traditionally, a new stadium’s second year attendance dips. We believe attendance should continue to increase as the team returns to playoff form. The average attendance for Braves’ seventeen playoff seasons going back to 1990 is 35,139. The Braves were one of baseball’s best teams during 1991-2005, reaching the playoffs for fourteen consecutive seasons. While the new stadium is smaller – 41,084 vs 49,586, the potential market in Cobb, combined with the Battery dining and entertainment facilities is greater. The exhibit below illustrates the historical performance and attendance of the Braves dating back to 1990. (Note that 1994 is excluded due to a strike shortened season.)

Exhibit 1 Braves Seasons 1990-2018

Average Attendance

Playoff Seasons (17) 35,139

Non-Playoff Seasons (10) 27,700

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Market Size Sportmediawatch.com ranks Atlanta as the 9th largest TV market with an estimated reach of 2.4 million homes. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are at the top with 7.0, 5.3, and 3.3 million homes respectively. Exhibit 2 illustrates that the Braves have a larger reach outside the state of Georgia as there are no MLB teams in the south east. The nearest team is the Tampa Bay Rays, one of the smaller teams with an average attendance of 14,000.

Exhibit 2 MLB Geographic Markets

Source: New York Times

Table 2 Social Media Social media is an increasingly critical factor contributing to a team’s Top 15 Team Twitters Followers marketability and overall reach. Currently, Twitter is the best platform for (Thousands) sports teams because of the instant response and news breaking capabilities. Twitter is supplemented by the presence of high ranking MLB insiders like New York Yankees 3,287 Ken Rosenthal (960K followers - The Athletic, Fox, MLB Network) and Chicago Cubs 2,457 Buster Olney (1.3 million followers - ESPN). The Braves Twitter account Toronto Blue Jays 2,233 currently has 1.2 million followers compared to a league average of around 2,024 1.1 million. The Braves, see Table 2, rank eleven out of the top fifteen teams. There is upside as leading player has 260K followers Boston Red Sox 1,992 whereas top player Mike Trout (LA Angels) has 2.5 million. Facebook may 1,820 not be as relevant to younger fans that prefer Instagram – the Braves San Francisco Giants 1,791 Instagram account is followed by 754K people, whereas the Yankees are followed by 1.9 million. There does not appear to be a verified Freddie Detroit Tigers 1,446 Freeman Instagram account, by contrast Mike Trout is followed by 1.5 Texas Rangers 1,414 million, Yankees’ Aaron Judge has 943K and NBA star LeBron James is Houston Astros 1,324 followed by 40 million. Interestingly, 13% or 3.9 million children aged between 6-12 participate in baseball on a regular basis suggesting a continued Atlanta Braves 1,206 youthful interest. St. Louis Cardinals 1,178 Kansas City Royals 1,034 Los Angeles Angels 1,009

New York Mets 1,004

Source: Statsta.com

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MLB 2021 – The Golden Year? Table 3 MLB Broadcast Contracts The MLB’s current broadcast contracts are with Fox, TBS and ESPN who paid a combined $12.5 billion for the rights between 2014-2021. The rights increased a dramatic ~118% as live sports value in an increasingly fragmented video world became apparent. These contracts have large implications on the value of all teams, with the Braves Forbes valuation increasing from $730 million in 2014 to $1.15 billion in 2015. A new contract should be negotiated in 2020 - the negotiation is complicated with the NFL’s ESPN agreement for $15.2 billion also expiring in 2021, with another $30 billion of rights expiring in 2022. New buyers include Facebook who purchased rights this season to broadcast 25 MLB games on Wednesday afternoon for ~$30 million. Twitter has had a similar deal for the last three years. Facebook is acquiring other global sports rights such as Spanish La Liga soccer in India. Amazon recently acquired NFL and English Premier League soccer rights, which puts severe pressure on traditional media broadcasters. Source: Forbes Interestingly the Yankees and Red Sox will be playing two games in London next season and the Dodgers and Padres played three games in Mexico this season as part of an MLB initiative to grow the sport globally.

MLB primetime viewership has been increasing this season; Fox recently reported that its national viewership has increased 10% year over year. In 2016 (22.8 million) and 2017 (18.7 million), the World Series reached their highest viewership levels since 2009 (19.3 million). Additionally, the MLB has done the best job all of the US leagues to staying ahead of cord cutting by directly streaming via MLB.TV. YouTube TV also broadcast the entirety of the 2017 World Series and is partnered with the MLB.

Exhibit 3 Aveage World Series Viewers (millions)

The league in a joint venture with its 30 teams is also able to stay ahead and boost viewership through MLBAM, which runs MLB.TV and continues to own 15% in BAMTech which powers the platform. MLB.TV is one of the five-largest video streaming platforms in the , with an estimated subscriber count between 8-12 million. The Economist described the idea as “A Business ” and showed that it’s ~$800 million in revenue accounts for 9% of the leagues total. 75% of BAMTech was sold off to Disney from 2016-2017 for a total of $2.58 billion, and a high-end valuation of $3.76 billion (and constitutes a “hidden asset” as the cash proceeds were partly distributed to the teams). Disney is planning to use it for live streaming of ESPNs content.

Source: www.mlb.com - 4 -

g.research, LLC Revenue Sharing MLB revenue sharing is a complex, well developed, but opaque formula that distributes over $1.5 billion annually revenue across the 30 teams in the league.

The revenue pool is comprised of:

1) 31% of all the 30 teams’ local TV contracts 2) A portion of the league “central fund” which is primarily comprised of the broadcast revenue the league receives through their national contracts with ESPN, Fox, and TBS

The funds are distributed to the teams based on their relative revenue with clubs that brought in the least revenue receiving the largest cut. The private formula was initially put in place in 1996 and was recently tweaked in 2002 to better distribute the funds to smaller market teams. The top ~15 teams by market size no longer receive funds from revenue sharing and are given a refund for the amount of funds that they would have received. However, a team that is above the luxury tax threshold – payroll greater than $195 million (2018 threshold) will not be rewarded a full refund. Last season (2017-2018), 16 clubs received revenue sharing: Diamondbacks, Braves, Orioles, Reds, Indians, Rockies, Astros, Royals, Marlins, Brewers, Twins, Athletics, Pirates, Padres, Mariners, Rays. It is unclear how the “market size” is exactly calculated.

The Braves current local TV contract with does not expire until 2027. Management has suggested that above league average revenue is now produced thanks to a renegotiation when coverage switched from Turner to Fox Sports. It is unlikely that the Braves will bid on Disney controlled Fox regional sports networks (RSNs), although Liberty Media’s Malone previously owned some of the RSN’s. Braves games are averaging a 3.19 rating up 55% over last season.

Team Quality Overview and Statistical Analysis

Source: theitem.com The Ideal Payroll? Spotrac.com estimates that the Braves 2018 season base payroll is $130 million. Our P/L estimate that the total payroll cost including benefits and bonuses should be $145 million in 2018 and increase to $169 million in 2019. The Braves only have a $47 million committed payroll heading into next season and will be officially dumping $41 million in retained salaries (players who were previously released). Following a number of trades at the July 31st deadline, the team was also able to add some inexpensive and controllable (i.e. contractually committed) players to help round out its roster. These deals should only minimally change the payroll this season and add approximately ~$15 million next season. Sports analysts prognosticated that the Braves were a real winner at the deadline as it did not give up any top prospects.

MLB Contracts MLB contracts are very complex and revolve around the original six years of eligibility each player gets when they are called up from the minor leagues; i.e. players are controlled by the team unless they are released or traded in their first six MLB seasons. Additionally, those six years are broken up into two phases: team control and Arbitration. Baseball players benefit, unlike most pro sports, as MLB contracts are fully guaranteed and are paid even if they underperform or are injured permanently.

Braves 21 year old All-Star Ozzie Albies is in his first full year in the majors and should earn the annual league minimum of $555,000. The team control years are 2019 and 2020 followed by three years of arbitration suggesting he will make between $550k-$1 million. It is common for players to negotiate salaries for their team control years; however the highest TC deals are still about $1 million. This is the hidden sauce whereby a young successful team on a similar timetable can be profitable. The true market value is established in the 7th year once a player reaches free agency. By contrast, Braves star Freddie Freeman who has been in the league for eight years is currently making $21 million after signing an eight-year extension in 2014 after being paid $560,000 in 2013. - 5 -

g.research, LLC Arbitration The MLB's official site description is: “Players and clubs negotiate over appropriate salaries, primarily based on comparable players who have signed contracts in recent seasons. If the club and player have not agreed on a salary by a deadline in mid- January, the club and player must exchange a salary for the upcoming season. As expected, the club files a lower number than the player. After the salaries are exchanged, a hearing is scheduled in February. If no one-year or multi-year settlement can be reached by the hearing date, the case is brought before a panel of arbitrators. After hearing arguments from both sides, the panel selects either the salary figure of the player or the club (but not one in between) as the player's salary for the upcoming season”. The process suggest that some players are paid at a discount to their market value which gives the clubs increased financial flexibility. Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius earns $8.5 million and with 2019 his last year of arbitration while his estimated market value according to Spotrac is about $17.5 million.

There are other options available during arbitration that are becoming more popular. Some players are now signing longer term deals early during the arbitration process for increased financial stability. For example, , the Braves All-Star center fielder signed a five-year $30 million deal in 2017 to “avoid arbitration” resulting in not going through his three years of arbitration, but committing to the Braves for an additional two years following arbitration.

The Braves Promising Payroll Situation The Braves are well positioned as it has roughly $47 million committed next season, before arbitration deals and the core of its team is still early in control years. The core of the team should be together until the 2023 season for a potentially much lower cost than free market. Exhibit 4 shows the money that is officially committed to players in the form of signed contracts as well as the breakdown of control. The future numbers do not take into account next season’s arbitration.

Exhibit 4

Source: Spotrac.com

Future variables include: 1) new arbitration deals should be determined during the offseason as the Braves are expected to negotiate with around ten players. 2) choosing to extend some of its upcoming free agents, such as Nick Markakis (34 years old with an $11M contract and estimated market value is closer $15 million). 3) Elect to bring in some free agents.

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Table 4 Cost Per Run Analysis Cost Per Run Top 15 Teams Runs Payroll (M) $/Run th As of August 13 , the Braves cost per run is $231K, Boston 659 $227 $0.34 based off of dividing a team’s base payroll by its total NY Yankees 608 177 0.29 amount of runs scored. This is one of the lower number Cleveland 594 140 0.24 in the MLB and is overstated, as it includes the $41 million in retained salary for players no longer on the Houston 582 161 0.28 team the Braves are currently carrying. Removing the Texas 577 138 0.24 retained salary from its overall payroll figure the teams Chicago Cubs 576 188 0.33 $/run ratio is closer to $160K making it one of the Oakland 561 74 0.13 lowest in the league. LA Dodgers 560 195 0.35 Atlanta 553 128 0.23 551 143 0.26 The Future Is Now – 2018 Talented Young Squad Pittsburgh 544 90 0.17 The Braves currently have six players who have LA Angels 542 172 0.32 appeared in at least one All-Star game; four of whom Washington 541 188 0.35 played this season. Talented former top prospects include: SS , OF Ronald Acuna Jr, Cincinnati 537 98 0.18 and LHP . Its farm system currently St. Louis 535 162 0.30 ranks second in the league and features 9 of the top 100 As of 8/13/18 - Source: Baseballreference.com prospects according to MLB Pipelines latest July update: RHP (No. 15), RHP (No. 24), RHP (No. 39), 3B (No. 43), OF (No. 57), LHP Luiz Gohara (No. 61), RHP (No. 76), LHP (No. 91), OF Drew Waters (No. 99). All these prospects will be under team control for six seasons once they are called up. The current depth chart is illustrated in Exhibit 5. The current 25 man roster expands to 40 on September 1, which permits all teams to supplement players from their farm system – with one of the top farm systems in baseball, this is especially attractive for the Braves which should allow it to rest its top players from the original 25 man roster prior to the play- offs and evaluate its top prospects. One of the more esoteric aspects of the MLB is that a prospect joining the squad from September 1st on does not reduce their six years of team control and relatively low wages.

Exhibit 5 – Braves Depth Chart (Starters and Backups)

Source: MLB.com

MLB Valuations Forbes 2018 team valuations ranked the Braves 12th with a value of $1.625 billion, up 8.3% from 2017. Forbes valuation is based on 2017 revenues.

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g.research, LLC Table 5

Forbes Baseball Valuations (Millions except for attendance data)

Tier Team 2015 2016 2017 2018 3-Yr. Chg. Revenue Multiple Avg. Attend. Payroll 1 New York Yankees $3,200 $3,400 $3,700 $4,000 25% $619 6.5x 43,340 $177 Los Angeles Dodgers 2,400 2,500 2,750 3,000 25 522 5.7 46,587 195 Chicago Cubs 1,800 2,200 2,680 2,900 61 457 6.3 38,776 188 2 San Francisco Giants 2,000 2,250 2,650 2,850 42 445 6.4 38,974 206 Boston Red Sox 2,100 2,300 2,700 2,800 33 453 6.2 35,420 227 1,350 1,650 2,000 2,100 55 336 6.3 28,832 149 St Louis Cardinals 1,400 1,600 1,800 1,900 35 319 6.0 42,510 162 Los Angeles Angels 1,300 1,340 1,750 1,800 38 334 5.4 37,381 172 Philadelphia Phillies 1,250 1,240 1,650 1,700 36 329 5.2 27,287 102 1,280 1,300 1,600 1,680 31 311 5.4 32,222 188 3 Houston Astros 800 1,100 1,450 1,650 106 347 4.8 36,626 161 Atlanta Braves 1,150 1,180 1,500 1,625 41 336 4.8 32,310 128 Texas Rangers 1,220 1,230 1,550 1,600 31 311 5.1 27,251 138 Chicago White Sox 975 1,050 1,350 1,500 53 266 5.6 18,164 71 Seattle Mariners 1,100 1,200 1,400 1,450 31 288 5.0 28,979 160 Toronto Blue Jays 870 900 1,300 1,350 55 274 4.9 29,437 156 San Diego Padres 890 890 1,130 1,270 42 266 4.8 27,340 99 Pittsburgh Pirates 900 975 1,250 1,260 40 258 4.9 18,161 90 Detroit Tigers 1,125 1,150 1,200 1,230 9 277 4.4 22,573 130 840 925 1,150 1,210 44 258 4.7 27,233 140 Baltimore Orioles 1,000 1,000 1,180 1,200 20 252 4.8 19,917 123 895 910 1,030 1,150 28 261 4.4 23,771 114 855 860 1,000 1,100 28 266 4.1 37,397 143 4 Cleveland Indians 825 800 920 1,050 27 284 3.7 22,978 140 Milwaukee Brewers 875 875 925 1,030 17 255 4.0 34,616 104 Kansas City Royals 700 865 950 1,020 45 210 4.9 20,871 129 Oakland Athletics 725 725 880 1,020 40 245 4.2 17,749 74 885 905 915 1,010 14 243 4.2 20,650 98 * 650 675 940 1,000 53 219 4.6 9,809 91 Tampa Bay Rays 625 650 825 900 44 219 4.1 14,852 68 Average $1,200 $1,288 $1,538 $1,645 39% $315 5.0 28734 $137 Source: Forbes, Spotrac.com, Baseballreference.com *Marlins sold for $1.2 billion in 2017

According to Forbes, the Yankees are the league’s most valuable franchise at an estimated $4 billion, based on 6.5x last year’s revenue. Forbes breaks the teams into four tier groups based on overall values. The methodology is based on a variety of factors including: ballpark, on-field performance, market size, management, and revenues. Tier 2 is between 5.7-6.4x revenue. The teams, including the Braves in tier 3 are lacking in one or more of these areas, but still have the potential to reach tier 2 status if they fill some of these needs and improve revenues. This suggests that if the Braves start reaching the playoffs consistently, its valuation has the potential to eclipse $2 billion in a short period of time. For example, the 2017 World Series Champion Astros saw its value increase by 14% in 2018 to $1.65 billion, following a 32% increase in 2017 and a $800 million valuation in 2015 – more than doubling in value over three years. The Astros were no doubt helped by signing a 20-year TV deal in 2016 worth $60 million annually after its 45% equity interest in a sports network collapsed.

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The increase in the Braves value by 41% over the last three years has only matched the MLB Table 6 Braves Franchise average of 39%, notwithstanding building a new stadium for $722 million. The Braves were Value in Millions $1.18 billion in 2016 (up an anemic $30 million from $1.15 billion in 2015) and then Year Value % Chg. increased $320M with the addition of a new stadium to $1.5 billion in 2016. Any improved on the field performance should have an immediate impact and any return to being “Americas 2002 $424 - Team” with a sustained run result in a further valuation leap to tier 2. 2003 423 -0.2% 2004 374 -11.6 Our team value is an estimated $2.046 billion, or $34 per share, based on 5.0x 2018 revenues 2005 382 2.1 of $453M, which we project to increase to $2.274 billion, or $38 per share, assuming 5.2x 2019 revenue. The 5.2x is still conservative relative to tier 3 team’s average of 5.3x and tier 2 2006 405 6.0 between average 6.15x. Forbes current $1.625 billion valuation assumes 4.8x 2017 revenue of 2007 458 13.1 $336M which is net of debt payments (we estimate actual revenue was $378M). 2008 497 8.5

2009 446 -10.3 2010 450 0.9 2011 482 7.1

Atlanta Battery Mixed Use Real Estate 2012 508 5.4 The initial development consisted of 82 acres of which 16 were allocated to the stadium and 2013 629 23.8 44 to the Battery Atlanta. To date the mixed use 1.5 million square foot real estate 2014 730 16.1 development has cost initially $558M with the company funding $200 million of equity, $290 2015 1,150 57.5 million of debt and $68 million from partners. The initial project is completed with 90% leased - is the anchor tenant in the nine-story commercial building. The 531 unit 2016 1,175 2.2 apartment building is up for sale for a speculated $170 million with management publicly 2017 1,500 27.7 stating that a 22% IRR can be achieved. Real estate have been reported separately for the last 2018 1,625 8.3 two quarters ($10 million revenue in Q2 up from $7 million sequentially) which should further assist in valuation and allow a potential spin out with ATB status within a couple of Source: Forbes years.

The remaining 22 acres are now being developed. Elevator Americas announced on July 26 that it was building a new US headquarters at the Battery Atlanta with Cobb County Development Authority issuing up to $264M for the new building and is expected to be completed by early 2022. The new tower should increase the corporate employees by 900 and attract diners. The Battery now has 17 restaurants as part of its retail space, with three now being part of Atlanta’s top 10 grossing restaurants. Unlike where fans generally just went to watch the game, fans are eating before and after the game and restaurants are filled to capacity out even on non-game days. The 280 room joint venture Omni hotel is beginning to sell out – it is now being joined by a 140 room Aloft hotel with construction expected to be complete by 2020. The Aloft offers a branded “lifestyle hotel” which appeals to a younger social media generation.

Our PMV assumes the initial $558 million real estate investment grows by 4% a year and that the net equity value entire real estate operation in 2019 is a net $212 million, or $3.50 per share. Sale of the residential units at an IRR of 22% is higher than the budget mid-teens return but is probably the easiest property to sell.

Exhibit 6 SunTrust Park

Source: MLB.com

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Private Market Value Our Liberty Braves 2019 PMV estimate is $2.5 billion, $42 per share, based on a team value of $2.27 billion, or $38 per share, the mixed use development net of debt and minorities at $236 million, or $4 per share and hidden assets of $240 million, or $4 per share less team debt of an estimated $240 million. Hidden assets include saleable MLB assets such as the remaining 15% in BAMTech and 22 acres of undeveloped land.

Table 7 Liberty Braves Group Private Market Value Analysis 2017A-2022P (in millions, except per share data) FYE 12/31 2017A 2018E 2019P 2020P 2021P 2022P

Atlanta Braves Revenue $378 $410 $437 $449 $461 $473 Valuation Multiple 5.0x 5.0x 5.2x 5.2x 5.2x 5.2x Segment Value 1,889 2,046 2,274 2,333 2,395 2,460

Property - The Battery Atlanta Segment Value 558 580 604 628 653 679 Plus: Net Cash (Debt) (290) (297) (293) (287) (281) (273) less Minority (68) (71) (75) (79) (83) (87) Equity Private Market value 200 212 236 262 289 319

Total Private Market Value $2,089 $2,258 $2,510 $2,595 $2,685 $2,779 Plus: Net Cash (Debt) (240) (240) (239) (223) (205) (185) Less: Options Payments (20) (22) (23) (24) (26) (27) Plus Hidden Assets 225 236 243 251 258 266 Equity Private Market Value 2,055 2,232 2,492 2,598 2,712 2,832

Shares Outstanding (year-end) 606060606060 PMV per share $34 $37 $42 $43 $45 $47 Current Market - Discount to PMV 22.8% 29.0% 36.4% 39.0% 41.5% 44.0%

Total Net Cash (Debt) (530) (537) (532) (510) (486) (458)

Attendance 2,505,252 2,605,462 2,657,571 2,684,147 2,710,989 2,738,098 Attendance per game 30,929 32,166 32,810 33,138 33,469 33,804 Source: Gabelli & Company estimates

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Table 8 APPENDIX Batting – OPS+ Pitching – ERA+

Normalized On Base Plus Slugging Normalized

Team Performance Statistically the Braves are well placed ranking 6th Team Age OPS+ Team Age ERA+ th in OPS+, although only 14 in ERA+ suggesting HOU 28.2 113 HOU 30.2 130 that the team is currently being carried by the offense. However, as previously mentioned; we BOS 27.5 110 BOS 28.9 129 expect the farm team system to ameliorate this NYY 27.1 109 ARI 29.6 122 soon. OAK 28.1 109 NYY 28.5 118 The first table shows the teams OPS+ which is a CLE 29.4 105 CLE 29.5 116 stat used to measure how far above league average ATL 27.5 103 a hitter may be. From the MLB’s official site: CHC 30 114 “OPS+ takes a player's on-base plus slugging TBR 27.5 103 LAD 29.1 112 percentage and normalizes the number across the CHC 27 102 WSN 30.9 112 entire league. It accounts for external factors like ballparks. It then adjusts so a score of 100 is LAA 30.3 102 MIL 28.8 111 league average, and 150 are 50 percent better than LAD 28.1 102 PHI 26.7 111 the league average.” SEA 29.6 102 LAA 27.4 106 ERA+ is used to evaluate pitchers. “ERA+ takes a TOR 29.6 101 OAK 28.6 106 player's ERA and normalizes it across the entire PIT 28 99 league. It accounts for external factors like COL 28 104 ballparks and opponents. It then adjusts, so a score CIN 27.3 98 ATL 27.9 103 of 100 is league average, and 150 are 50% better STL 28.3 97 DET 28.8 103 than the league average.” Lg Avg 28.2 97 TBR 27.5 103 CHW 26.6 95 STL 26.8 102

MIN 28.5 94 SFG 28.7 101 WSN 27.8 94 Lg Avg 28.6 101

MIL 28.7 93 SEA 28.9 100 NYM 28.7 92 TEX 31.5 99 SFG 30.1 92 MIN 29.4 97

BAL 28.8 91 PIT 26.5 95 PHI 26.4 91 TOR 30.3 91

TEX 27.4 91 SDP 28.3 90 MIA 28 89 CIN 27 87

COL 28.7 88 NYM 28.2 86 ARI 29.1 86 BAL 27.7 84 KCR 29.2 85 CHW 28.1 84

SDP 27.2 83 KCR 28.2 80 DET 28.1 80 MIA 28 78

As of 8/9/18 -Source: Baseballreference.com

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g.research, LLC Table 9

Top 15 Teams RTOT (Fielding)

CHC 50 MIL 43 With the RTOT stat we can see how efficiently teams play the field and BOS 41 helps evaluate defensive efficiency. RTOT is defined by ATL 32 baseballreference.com as “the number of runs above or below average the HOU 29 player/team was worth based on the number of plays made.” League TBR 27

average is currently 0. This gives us some insight into how the ARI 26 Braves have managed to make up for their average pitching. COL 20 LAA 16 OAK 14 SEA 11 SFG 10

STL 6

DET 3 TEX 2 As of 8/9/18 - Source: Baseballreference.com

Wins Above Replacement Table 10 WAR is a key metric - wins above replacement - and is sabermetrics attempt at ranking players on a universal scale that takes all aspects of the game into account. The MLB's Team WAR Run Diff. official site: BOS 44.4 191 HOU 42 201 “WAR measures a player's value in all facets of the game by deciphering how many more wins he's worth than a replacement-level player at his same position (e.g., a Minor NYY 36.8 129 League replacement or a readily available fill-in free agent). For example, if a shortstop CLE 34.8 100 and a first baseman offer the same overall production (on offense, defense and the OAK 32.8 95 basepaths), the shortstop will have a better WAR because his position sees a lower level CHC 32.6 110 of production from replacement-level players.” LAD 28.9 59 A team’s overall efficiency is also judged by using run differential which is calculated by MIL 27.7 40 subtracting runs scored by runs allowed. The Braves currently rank 7th - up from 20th ARI 27.6 68 just a season ago which suggests a strong and much improved offense. LAA 27.6 28

ATL 27.5 70 TBR 26.2 2 WSN 25.9 66 PHI 25.5 36 SEA 23.9 20 STL 21.5 -8 TEX 21 -27 COL 21 -18 SFG 20 -31 MIN 19.4 -62 PIT 19.2 -8 CIN 18.2 -57 TOR 17.1 -59 NYM 14.8 -84 DET 14.7 -89 CHW 10.4 -150 SDP 9.2 -113 BAL 8.4 -158 As of 8/9/18 - Source: Baseballreference com MIA 7.2 -149 KCR 5.8 -202 - 12 - As of 8/9/18 -Source: Baseballreference.com

g.research, LLC Other Companies Mentioned: 21st Century FOX (FOX – NYSE) Alphabet (GOOGL – NASDAQ) Amazon (AMZN – NASDAQ) AT&T (T – NYSE) Charter Communications (CHTR – NASDAQ) Comcast (CMSCK – NASDAQ) Facebook (FB – NASDAQ) GCI Liberty (GLIBA – NASDAQ) Liberty Formula One (FWONA – NASDAQ) Liberty Sirius (LSXMA – NASDAQ) Lionsgate (LGF – NYSE) Madison Square Garden (MSG – NYSE) (RCI-BT) Twitter (TWTR – NYSE) The Walt Disney Company (DIS – NYSE)

Liberty Braves Price Performance

Source: Public data. As of September 16, 2016 BATRA had a BUY recommendation

I, John Tinker, the Research Analyst who prepared this report, hereby certify that the views expressed in this report accurately reflect the analyst’s personal views about the subject companies and their securities. The Research Analyst has not been, is not and will not be receiving direct or indirect compensation for expressing the specific recommendation or view in this report.

John Tinker (914) 921- 8348 g.research, LLC 2018

Important Disclosures

ONE CORPORATE CENTER RYE, NY 10580 g.research, LLC TEL (914) 921-5130 FAX (914) 921-5098 g.research, LLC ("we or "us") attempts to provide timely, value-added insights into companies or industry dynamics for institutional investors. Our research reports generally contain a recommendation of "buy," "hold," "sell" or "non-rated.” We do not undertake to "upgrade" or "downgrade" ratings after publishing a report. We currently have reports on 263 companies, of which 59%, 28%, 1% and 12% have a recommendation of buy, hold, sell or non-rated, respectively. The percentage of companies so rated for which we provided investment banking services within the past 12 months is 0%, 0%, 0% and less than 1%.

Ratings Analysts’ ratings are largely (but not always) determined by our “private market value,” or PMV methodology. Our basic goal is to understand in absolute terms what a rational, strategic buyer would pay for an asset in an open, arms-length transaction. At the same time, analysts also look for underlying catalysts that could encourage those private market values to surface. A Buy rated stock is one that in our view is trading at a meaningful discount to our estimated PMV. We could expect a more modest private market value to increase at an accelerated pace, the discount of the public stock price to PMV to narrow through the emergence of a catalyst, or some combination of the two to occur. A Hold is a stock that may be trading at or near our estimated private market value. We may not anticipate a large increase in the PMV, or see some other factors at work. A Sell is a stock that may be trading at or above our estimated PMV. There may be little upside to the value, or limited opportunity to realize the value. Economic or sector risk could also be increasing.

We prepared this report as a matter of general information. We do not intend for this report to be a complete description of any security or company and it is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. All facts and statistics are from sources we believe to be reliable, but we do not guarantee their accuracy. We do not undertake to advise you of changes in our opinion or information. Unless otherwise noted, all stock prices reflect the closing price on the business day immediately prior to the date of this report. We do not use "price targets" predicting future stock performance. We do refer to "private market value" or PMV, which is the price that we believe an informed buyer would pay to acquire 100% of a company. There is no assurance that there are any willing buyers of a company at this price and we do not intend to suggest that any acquisition is likely. Additional information is available on request.

As of July 31, 2018, our affiliates beneficially own on behalf of their investment advisory clients or otherwise approximately 14.15% of Liberty Braves Group A, and 6.55% of Liberty Braves Group C, 7.02% of Madison Square Garden, 1.49% of Liberty Formula One A (FWONA),1.04% of GCI Liberty and less than 1% of all other companies mentioned in this report. Because the portfolio managers at our affiliates make individual investment decisions with respect to the client accounts they manage, these accounts may have transactions inconsistent with the recommendations in this report. These portfolio managers may know the substance of our research reports prior to their publication as a result of joint participation in research meetings or otherwise. No part of my compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report. In addition, the undersigned lead analyst(s) has not and will not receive any compensation for providing a specific recommendation or view in this report. The analyst, who wrote this report, or members of his household, owns 2,900 of LSXMA, 5,560 shares of LSXMK, 725 shares of FWONA, 1,450 shares of FWONK, 290 shares of BATRA, 580 shares of BATRK, 7,561 shares of GLIBA and 600 shares of Facebook. - 13 -