Liberty Media's Atlanta Braves - PESTLE/SWOT/Financial Analysis

Introduction 

The Atlanta Braves is wholly owned by Liberty Media Corporations. The baseball team together with its stadium and a section of real estate are a possession to Liberty Braves a branch of the Media magnate. The move by the government to privatization of public broadcasting by reducing the expenditure on it views as unnecessary expenses are a political move that could have a positive impact on the Media conglomerate. On the economic side, the nationalist trade principles of the Trump government prove to hold potential negative consequences. Additionally, the social aspects of the society have proven to give the company a competitive advantage as the company takes advantage of the skinny bundles to gain audiences and thereby, promote it effectively. 

With the company’s technological advancement in the acquisition of broadcast radio SiriusXM, it has managed to gain an incredible subscription that has enabled it to increase its profitability. Otherwise, modification of some outdated policies for example policies that bar individuals or companies from owning both local TV and radio stations would prove to be extremely advantageous for the media company that possesses a range of newspapers, television, and radio stations. The company’s investments in environmental management projects especially in the energy sector are one way of ensuring that the firm is environmentally friendly in its operations. The company has great potential for growth as exemplified by its financial ratios that indicate profitability and growth. 

Liberty Media 

Was initiated in the year 1991as a cable television group and was led by Peter Barton as the president. Through Barton’s ambitious efforts, the company became successful and later formed a merger with TCI. The company's continuous growth led to another merger in 1998 with STARZ and Encore where Encore was focused in capitalizing on digital cable trends and TCI traditional cable ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . In 1999, the company was authorized by the United States' justice department to sell a part of its share, and this sell led to yet another merger with AT&T at a value of nearly USD$ 48billion. From the merger with TCI Ventures Group LLC, Liberty Media managed to raise USD$5.5 billion that the company used to purchase National Digital Television Center, @Home Corp, and Western Telecommunications Inc. 

The firm acquired majority shares of TCI music totaling 86% in 1999 and renamed it to Liberty Digital Inc. From investments made in struggling internet commerce such as iVillage, homegrocer.com, TiVo, and drugstore.com led to Liberty Digital losing USD$ 244million within the same year. The company realized steady growth through the acquisition of Todd-AO among two other firms to make the Liberty Livewire that had its core business in video and audio post-production ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . In 2001, completed its acquisition of the previously TCI Satellite and later invested in nine regional cable networks in Germany for a total cost of USD$ 5 billion. In 2005, the firm merged with UnitedGlobalCom to form Liberty Global, and in the following year, 50 percentile of its shares in Court TV was acquired by Time Warner for a value of USD$ 735 million. 

Later the company purchased IDT Entertainment and bargained a swap of the asset with Time Warners and News Corp and thereby gained control of Atlanta Braves and DirecTV. After the swap, Time Warner received stock of Time Warner valued at USD$ 1.27 billion and gave Liberty Media USD$ 1 billion in cash, a group of magazines, and the Atlanta Braves baseball team. The company continued to deal by purchasing, exchanging and collaborating with other businesses to realize a steady growth and both an asset and revenue ( Wolff et al., 2017) . As of 2015, the company’s total equity was approximated at $10 billion while the total assets grossed $29 billion. Within the same year, the net income was approximated at $64 million and the operating costs at $950 million. 

The structure of Liberty Media Empire 

Atlanta Braves 

Based in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the baseball franchise was established in 1871. The franchise is an affiliate of the National League East division and participates in the Major League Baseball. As from 2017, the baseball team’s home stadium is the SunTrust Park located in the Cumberland neighborhood of Cobb County, northwest of downtown Atlanta. From 1966-96, the team played all the home games at Fulton County Stadium and later from Turner field before moving to their current location ( Zimbalist, 2018) . The baseball franchise was known as "America's team" due to the broadcast of their games on a nationally available channel and thereby acquired the nickname "the Bravos" in 1912. 

The team has been extremely successful in winning major titles with a streak of wins from 1991-2005 totaling 14. While still a member of the West Division, the Atlanta Braves won the National League from 1991 – 1993, and after shifting to the East, Division won from 1995 - 2005. The team has also made headlines in the World Series making five appearances and also taking home the championship in 1995. Atlanta Braves has gone into history as the only team to win the World Series from various home cities ( Zimbalist, 2018) . As Boston Braves, they first won in 1914, and then later won the championship as Milwaukee Braves in 1957, and lastly, they won the series as Atlanta Braves in 1995. Their winning record ranges from five World Series, seventeen National League pennant, and eighteen divisional titles. 

Media mogul Ted Turner bought the company in 1976 and made the team the first to appear on national TV gaining a national fan base. Through his superstation WTBS, Ted Turner marketed the team aggressively giving it a national audience ( Zimbalist, 2018) . In 2007, owner Time Warner agreed to exchange the inherited franchise, together with hobbyist magazine and paid Liberty Media for a sizeable stock of Time Warner, Inc. Even though Liberty Media did not participate actively in the daily operations of the franchise, the team continued with a streak of wins and losses as the seasons passed. After one year into their new hometown stadium, the Atlanta Braves recorded an income of USD$ 442million, an increase from USD$ 386 million recorded before moving to SunTrust Park. 

Apart from the management spending less on the acquisition of new players, the team went out of their way and performed well especially in the two playoffs National League Division Series. The playoffs against Los Angeles Dodgers were held in the last quarter of 2018, a time when the franchise realized a whopping USD$ 32million income ( Zimbalist, 2018) . Compared to 2017 when the team was still hosting their games in Turner field, the revenue is a remarkable increase from the previous USD$ 20million. Moreover, the team has no plans to sign any new players and the 2019 season is expected to feature the same players as in 2018. 

PESTLE Analysis of Liberty Media 

Political 

With the government’s move to privatization of public broadcasting by reducing the expenditure on what the federal views as unnecessary will create an opportunity for several private firms, Liberty Media topping the list. The move by the government to do away with cultural programs and a private corporation that it deems will save the federal government at least 0.02% of its budget. The corporations targeted here are the Corporation for Broadcasting and the National Endowment for Arts ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . This will affect the majority of children's programs which are the most beneficiaries of federal funding. The government is disregarding the essence of the programs which are funded not to make profits but to educate the children. Several studies have attested to the fact that the kids that watched these programs had better grades in literacy tests. 

Economical 

Trade nationalist principles of the Trump government have led to media fraternity to be on the lookout for confrontations in commerce as big-time investors from foreign countries are being hit by trade restrictions that prevent them from investing in the US. The United States’ president Donald Trump has gone as far as criticizing Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, for maintaining the interest rates too low ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . If Yellen yields to this criticism, the country should look forward to an increase in the interest rates which will definitely make it more difficult for companies to make business transactions. 

The protectionist policies that the US government intends to put in place have placed it at loggerheads with China, where the interdependence of the two economies is at risk as both countries have taken a hard economic stance. Negotiations from both sides have failed to yield any meaningful agreements when more than USD$ 200 billion Chinese imports will be affected by the 10-25% proposed increment in trade tariffs. Trump expects China to make significant economic changes that Americans are expected to benefit from. China has responded likewise by imposing tariffs on US imports amounting to US$ 110billion ( Wolff et al., 2017) . The US tariffs target Chinese goods ranging from railroad equipment to consumer goods like washing machines and handbags while the Chinese tariffs target US commodities like Soybeans which are being purchased from elsewhere, medical equipment, coal, and chemicals. 

Increased interest rates translate to a sign of inflation and might lead to the slumping of the stock market which creates a track record of worst economic times for business owners. The Fed chair is thus faced with a challenge especially at this moment when investors have started selling contrary to the reassurance that the chair is portraying of having a grip of the economy ( Wolff et al., 2017) . Prices in the stocks have dropped tremendously with the Fed failing to bring order in the markets. In such unsteady economic turbulence, Liberty media has to restructure and strategize critically taking into the advantage of its strength and compensating for its weaknesses. 

Social 

More people are expected to subscribe to the ever-growing inclination for skinny bundles. Researchers have predicted that over the top and skinny bundles will determine the rate of subscription in pay TV within the United States. The researchers’ further point out that, even though the skinny bundles will lead to the increment of subscription of pay TV or OTT, they caution that the average revenue per user will not increase ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . Further predictions indicate that the OTT services out of the US will increase, but the average revenue per user will be much lower than in the US. The prudent and hawk-eyed managers are already positioning the company to take advantage of the growth increase in the pay-TV and the skinny bundles. 

Due to the activities involved in the motorsport, Formula one is gaining popularity not only in social media but also on digital TV. Liberty Media has acknowledged the fact and is slowly positioning itself in the digital media space. The firm has realized that the smartphone is dictating future trends, but since most of the company's investment is already in the advanced TV technology, it has resorted to focus more on the digital media ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . As a result, the company is spending fortunes on TV production with the aim of capturing the audience from this sporting event. Hence, by bringing the audience closer to the sport, they stand to gain from the 3.5billion audience that is making impressions as formula one followers. 

Technological 

The company has already invested in the future broadcast radio. The company invested in satellite radio acquiring substantial shares in SiriusXM Radio Company that also uses online broadcasting. The company has also invested on internet radio through Pandora, an internet company radio ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . The investment in wireless radio stations makes it possible to traverse several borders and reach even bigger audiences than anticipated. As the younger more educated youth are more technologically savvy, it becomes easier to target them through online or satellite radio. 

The company has been able to leverage by increasing its revenue through the use of digital media. Through the use of digital media, the company has been able to promote, market, and sell their other services and goods through the audiences acquired through these other ways. For instance, the company promotes games that Atlanta Braves will feature through their audio or visual media channels ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . The company has invested in music distributorship another avenue for it to leverage upon. Therefore, with such large audiences at their disposable, liberty media takes the position of content provider where some of the content is part of their business hence are able to interact with their consumers. 

Legal 

Some policies are outdated and need adjustment for example policies that bar individuals or companies from owning both local TV and radio stations, thus, leading to the closure of so many radio stations, television stations, and newspapers. Such policies need to be modified or be scraped off as the market has become extremely dynamic ( Zheng, & Mason, 2018) . There has been a lot of competition from social media platforms; hence, the policies are choking these companies as they cannot even attempt to compete with these platforms effectively. Moreover, social media is unrivalled in the advertising space; therefore, the abolition of this law help in the companies reaching more audiences. 

Environmental 

Liberty Media has a firm belief in the struggle towards the maintenance of a healthier and cleaner environment thus has taken considerable action towards the realization of the same. Some of the projects that Liberty Media is involved in relating to sustainable environmental management include the organization of solar power amenities in Pennsylvania and Arizona and recycling exercises that are conducted on the entire company. Furthermore, the company has initiated the use of energy saving lighting, initiated the reclamation of water systems in various institutions, and the decrease the usage of plastic bottles at its headquarters ( Schlossberg, 2016) . The company has also embraced the use of paper cups that are decomposable supplied by ecoproducts.com and also use of dishware that can be washed instead of the paper waste. 

Liberty has partnered with Solana, a company that uses creative technological approaches to invest in the environment and energy sector sustainably. Solana, a global leader in the solar energy, has together with Liberty, initiated the first solar plant in the US, complete with storage of the energy in the thermal form ( Schlossberg, 2016) . The plant with the capacity of 280 MW is finalizing its tests and has proved to be able to produce electricity 24 hours a day and thus in a position to meet the demands of the consumer as it will store the excess energy produced. The company is counting more on its ability to store energy a fete its competitors have failed to achieve. 

To prove its concern in the management of the environment, Liberty has initiated another power project in Pennsylvania where it generates natural gas. Through the project that was approved way back in 2012 and to-date has employed 500 people while at the same time proven its success by reducing carbon from the environment while providing residents with safe and clean energy ( Schlossberg, 2016) . From the project, nearly a million Pennsylvanians are enjoying safe and clean energy from the plant that generates 274 megawatts. The state of the art equipment used includes one hydrogen-cooled generator, a gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, and a steam turbine. 

SWOT Analysis of Atlanta Braves 

Strengths 

Liberty Braves has strong financials that can be attributed to its long existence in business coupled with the development of the SunTrust Park which has led to the increment of the net worth of their stock prices. Basically, it's a number of factors that have pushed for the strengthening of the financials, and they comprise improvement of the baseball team and the massive investment in real estate surrounding the stadium ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . Liberty Media invested heavily to the tune of up to USD$ 400 million to develop hotels, shops, restaurants, to name but a few of the projects that are in what is now known as the Battery Atlanta. The Battery Atlanta has proved to be a real booster to the gain of Liberty Braves stock to nearly 12 percent. 

Strong strategic acquisitions/deals 

Through Brave Holdings the firm owns other five Minor League Baseball teams such as Mississippi Brave, GCL Braves, Gwinett Stripers, Danville Braves, and the Rome Braves. Within the Dominican Republic, the firm has leased baseball facility from where it operates a baseball academy. The diversified investment portfolio not to forget the investments in the Battery Atlanta provide a strong financial backing for the firm as it produces revenue development operations and baseball revenue ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . Baseball revenue is generated from the sale of tickets, premium seat charges, licensing, concessions, suites, rights to broadcasting, and corporate sales. Revenue from development operations is mainly from income collected from rentals and the mixed use of the facilities. 

The NASDAQ:BATRK and the NASDAQ:BATRA are highly favored stock in the financial market because of the development of the new stadium that has driven the increment of 47 percent in the revenue of the firm within its initial year of launch. The stadium has also seen to the increase in the attendance of the Braves home games over the same period even with the poor performance of the team ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . Additionally, the team has been placed as one with the best minor league systems in the best position for promotion into the Major League Baseball games. Moreover, the management is working out a plan to replace the highly priced seasoned veterans with prospects that will help them achieve fewer salary commitments. 

Weaknesses 

In spite of the corporation injecting increasing amounts in revenue, losses from the baseball club subsidiary are proving to be a challenge. The Liberty group entirely owns the Braves group and the recent years showed results that were not promising to the investors. The group for the last couple of years has been experiencing losses that can be attributed to poor performance ( Schlossberg, 2016) . For instance, in 2015 and 2016, lost 95 and 93 games respectively while operating expenses shot up in the latter year from USD$ 189 million to USD$ 224million. These expenses led to an increase in the operating costs compared to the preceding year and consequent operating losses of USD$ 38million. 

Within the same year, Brave Holdings employed a concessions operator in its retail operations for the entire season. These inevitable modifications led to the appreciation in the total income in 2016, even though these attracted an increment in the operating costs. Thus, the changes did not bring any meaningful profit margins as expected ( Preuss, 2019) . However, the incremental operating costs have alluded to the extra job opportunities that were created in the retail operations of the Braves. Further losses were from the signings of international players resulting in penalties being imposed on them for surpassing the international bonus kitty that was assigned the team by the Major League Baseball. 

Liberty Media owns 64% of SiriusXM Group which runs a satellite radio company. The radio company provides free commercial music together with traffic, entertainment, talk, weather, sports, comedy, and news. The radio company that has both satellite radio and online radio boast of a subscriber base of over 18.5 million. Thus, Liberty media has an over-dependence on the subscriber base to generate revenue ( Preuss, 2019) . The subscriber base has proven to be an asset for the firm as in 2016, and it produced an income of USD$ 5014 million through the SiriusXM subscriber base. This revenue model could lead to unimaginable losses if by chance there are major technological changes or for whatever reason, the radio company loses its audience. 

Opportunities 

Asian countries are known to have a great following in formula one races, thus by the company investing in formula one, lies the opportunity of acquiring an Asian market share. Like, Radio Liberty that has operated in Russia for more than fifty years, most companies has the opportunity to grow their businesses. Liberty Media has taken the opportunity to invest in cameras that can capture views at angles of 360° and can zoom to bring the viewer’s perfect engagement with the sport ( Pfahl, 2015) . By investing in sports, the company expects to leverage the massive audiences that are growing for sports. Formula one is said to be the fastest growing sports audiences in social media; hence companies with this information stand to be more profitable. 

Threats 

The success in the formula one sporting industry holds the future of the company at ransom. Since, the company is already investing in the industry, if the company’s predictions are incorrect; the company stands to lose a lot in investment. Moreover, the findings of formula one being a fast-growing sport in the social media did not put the time frame at which benefits are to be derived ( Preuss, 2019) . Therefore, it might take a longer period of time before the sport completely takes over. This is a threat as the results of the research conducted from the online study on the trends of formula one could be the results of bots and thereby be totally misleading. If the company is to base its investment in the industry based on such results, the consequences are unimaginable. 

Financial Ratios 

Cash Asset Ratio 

In 2018, the Braves Group had USD$ 114 million in cash compared to 2017 when they had 132 in cash and total assets of USD$ 1.947 billion and USD$ 1.866 billion respectively. Therefore in 2018; 

Cash Asset Ratio = Cash / Total Assets x 100 

= 114,000,000,000/1,947,000,000,000 x 100 

= 5.86% 

In 2017; 

= 132,000,000,000/1,866,000,000,000 x 100 

= 7.03% 

In 2018, the Brave Group’s cash was 5.86% of the total assets, even though in 2017 they had more cash to asset ratio with the cash being 7.03% of the total assets. The New York Mets, arch rivals of the Braves have their current ratio for the same time period in 2018 is computed as follows; 

= 67,651, 376,000/167,591,833,000 x 100 

= 40.37% 

Hence the Mets have better financial positioning in relation to their assets if compared to the Braves. 

Return on Assets 

In 2018, 

Return on Assets = Earnings before taxation/Total Assets 

= USD$ 58,000,000,000/1,947,000,000,000 

= USD$ 0.03 

In 2017, 

ROA = USD$ 55,000,000,000/1,866,000,000,000 

= USD$ 0.03 

Hence, the effectiveness in which the company utilized its resources in making profits is the same for both years. 

Mets 2018; 

= 43,493,523,000/167,591,833,000 

= USD$ 0.25 

The Mets are furthermore efficient in utilizing their resources compared to their arch-rivals hence more proficient in each dollar per asset profitability. 

Price to Earnings Ratio 

As of March 2018, the Brave Holdings stock was selling at USD$ 22 while the company’s earnings were USD$ 3 per each share thus the P/E ratio was 22:3 and subsequently, the P/E ratio was 23:3 in March 2017. Their rivals stock was selling at USD$ 18 while the earnings were USD$ 1 per share and thus, its price to earnings ratio at 18:1 

Current Ratio 

For 2018; 

Current Ratio = Total current assets/Total current liabilities 

= 1,174,000,000,000/599,000,000,000 

= 1.95 

In 2017; 

CR = 1,099,000,000,000/662,000,000,000 = 1.66 

In both years, the Brave Holdings had enough liabilities covered by the assets as attested in the computations above, even though the margin was slim and not all that impressive. 

Mets 2018; 

= 76,528,401,000/110,654,579,000 

= 0.69 

From the current ratios, it is clear that the Braves are better positioned in regard to their assets covering their debts in comparison with the New York Mets. 

Working Capital 

For 2018; 

Working Capital = Total Current Assets – Total Current Liabilities 

= 1,174,000,000,000 – 599,000,000,000 

= USD$ 575,000,000,000 

For 2017; 

= 1,099,000,000,000 – 662,000,000,000 

= USD$ 437,000,000,000 

It is clear that in 2018 the company had more working capital compared to the preceding year. 

Mets 2018; 

= 110,654,579,000 – 76,528,401,000 

= USD$ 34,126,178,000 

The Atlanta Braves had far more working capital compared to the Mets in both 2017 and 2018. 

Management Problems 

The External Environment 

The team entered into a secret deal with county officials to have the SunTrust Park funded partially by taxpayers’ money with no evident benefits to the taxpayers. This issue became a management problem after the deal was no longer a secret and it cost the county official in charge of the negotiations his job ( Schlossberg, 2016) . Furthermore, the management in the same deal had an agreement with the county for all businesses surrounding the newly built stadium to be closed during championships to pave the way for all the cars to be parked within the stadium. It turned out that the parking lot within SunTrust Park was not sufficient to accommodate all the vehicles. 

Another problem that the management is facing is the call out for an increment in salaries from the Minor League Baseball players whose contracts are controlled by the Major League Baseball teams. The minor league players insist that the salaries of their counterparts in the Major League Baseball have increased more than 2,000 times while theirs has not gone beyond 75%. If these concerns are taken seriously, then the Major League Baseball teams will have to chuck a part of their profits to cover the increments ( Schlossberg, 2016) . The lawsuit cites a more than 400% inflation rise and that the Major League Baseball teams are in breach of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Furthermore, the MLB is disregarding state laws that are against payment of salaries that are below the minimum wage cites the lawsuit. 

The Internal Environment 

After surpassing their bonuses on signing international players, the league players were punished by the Major League Baseball. Part of the punishment included their bonuses being reduced by half and the team not being allowed to sign any new player for the whole year. Otherwise, the 13 international prospects that were signed were given a free agent transfer while maintaining the bonuses that they signed in the contract with the Atlanta Braves ( Martin Jr, 2017) . So this means the team will have to make do with so many players gone and no alternative to obtain more players while they are not to pay any player more than USD$ 10,000. 

The general manager John Copolella was banned for life from taking part in any baseball-related activities while, Gordon Blakeley, his special assistant, was suspended for twelve months following the signing deal that turned sour. This is an extremely difficult period for the team especially after spending more than USD$ 16 million on the signings and the brand image of the club being tarnished ( Martin Jr, 2017) . The incumbent manager has a big challenge in ensuring that he uses the limited resources to get the team back on the road. Above all, the new manager has to restore the hopes of the faithful staff, players, shareholders, and the fans that the team will continue performing and maintaining its long-standing record despite the setback. 

Problems and Solutions 

Why each Problem Exists. 

External Environment 

After losing on an opportunity to construct a stadium at a reduced cost of USD$ 300 million at Turner’s field which was assigned for the construction of a football stadium, the Vice Chairman, John Schuerholz, and Vice president , mike plant negotiated a construction deal with Cobbs county through its chairman Tim Lee. The deal involved Cobb’s county raising more than USD$ 350 million in bonds to oversee the construction and introduced several taxes to raise the required amount that would be used in the completion of the stadium ( Marchant, & Bradshaw, 2015) . The county further devoted USD$ 9million for the construction of a footbridge for pedestrians to reach the stadium. The payment to these funds from the county into a private investment was to be paid back through the taxation of the buildings. 

The second problem exists because whatever the minor league players are earning is not adequate to sufficiently help them cope with life. Some of these players due to the meager pay they receive have to share living quarters with other five to four players because they cannot afford decent accommodation. At other times these players take long bus rides to get to the training ground and thus make life miserable for them. Most of the players have quit on their dreams simply for the reason that they live below the poverty line while they spend between 10-12 hours working out in the field ( Laxton, 2017) . Their plight is addressed by the MLB who are in the act of preparing a proposal while the Toronto Blue Jays have set an example by promising to raise the minor league players at least by 50%. 

Internal Environment 

The signage of the 13 international players was revoked because the club had surpassed the set limits for international player bonuses. The players had nothing wrong, but the team had orchestrated and devised plans that included lying about the bonuses that they had signed with the international prospects ( Iacovidou et al., 2017) . This lie had enabled the team to sign nine more international players whom they wouldn’t be in a position to do so if they had not lied about the whole situation. In the saga, the team was represented by its general manager John Copolella, his special assistant, Gordon Blakeley, and the president for baseball operations, John Hart. 

The management was dishonest about the contracts it signed with the international prospects. Because of the dishonesty, the management had signed more players than the set number of players set for individual teams ( Foster, O'Reilly, & Dávila, 2016) . John Copolella who was in charge of signing new players during the transfer window had broken several rules set by MLB and when asked about it had proven to be uncooperative in the investigations. Furthermore, he had bragged that he could not only lie about the fiasco but also get away with it ( Bradbury, 2017) . Copolella was an abusive boss portrayed by the way he handled the situation threatening to fire employees who supported the investigations of the MLB and was even believed to have tampered with employee violations from other teams. 

Best Solution for the Problems 

External Environment 

Even though Tim Lee was pressured by his opponent to resign but there is nothing that the county can do regarding the money spent in the construction of the stadium. As much as the county has appointed a committee to look into the saga, the truth still remains that they cannot return the taxpayers the money that was used in the construction. Hence, Braves Holdings can avoid more problems by ensuring that they pay their property taxes as agreed in their secret deal with Tim Lee on behalf of the county ( Huefner, 2017) . Moreover, the management should ensure that they are in good terms with the county officials to prevent any bad blood that might lead to the imposition of penalties or the intentional increase of set taxes to get back to the baseball club. 

The firm is not pursuing the correct decision through the underpayment of minor league players. They should be in the forefront just like the Toronto Blue Jays and increase the players’ salary since they stand to benefit more. When the players’ salary is increased, the players become more satisfied and thus, exhibit the best potential while playing the games. This move will put the firm in a better position to acquire new players at a cost which is more affordable compared to the acquisition of new international players ( Collard, 2017) . Therefore, the club by not supporting and paying the minor league players better remunerations is killing talent and further increasing its cost of acquiring new prospects. 

Internal Environment 

Since some of the players signed by John Copolella were young and a move to cement the leagues legacy in the future, the club has a better chance to improve its current position as all is not lost. By appointing Alex Anthopoulos as the new general manager, Braves Holdings has made a good decision into managing the problem at hand. The challenge lies in the hands of Anthopoulos to decide which older crop of players he wants to keep in the team and which he can afford to trade to acquire talented players that are experienced in playing the major leagues ( Bell, & Rochford, 2016) . Therefore, he is tasked with ensuring that he manipulates whatever resources he has available to fix the major league roster especially in relief pitching and starting line-up. 

The firm also made a strategic move by discharging John Copolella as the public would not have confidence in him anymore. Additionally, the shareholders would not be in a comfortable position working with him after intentionally incurring major losses to the company and giving them no room to recoup the lost amounts ( Anderson, 2016) . Therefore, the new general manager has to restore the confidence and credibility to the organization that has its brand tarnished by the previous manager. As much as the Braves Holdings is experiencing hard times, the administration should assist and support the incumbent manager both physically and materially, more so, in financial angle. It is clear knowledge that Anthopoulos will not have an easy time running the club in his tenure; thus any assistance accorded him will go a long way in reassuring their massive fan base that the team still got what it takes to win titles. 

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