The Atlanta Braves Are Back In The World Series: Can The Team's Stock Get A Boost?

For the first time since 1999, the Atlanta Braves are back in the World Series. Fans of the Braves and baseball have many options as they can watch the game, bet on the game or buy stock in one of the two teams playing.

What To Know: The Braves are publicly traded as Liberty Braves Group BATRA. Liberty bought the team for $400 million in 2007. Given the team hasn't been to the World Series since 1999, the event could be a catalyst for the stock.

The 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros begins Tuesday with a best of seven series airing on Fox, a unit of Fox Corp FOX.

Atlanta posted an 88-73 record during the regular season, including a 42-38 home record. Houston went 95-67 in the regular season and had a 51-30 home record.

The Astros will be the home team in games one and two and games six and seven, if necessary.

DraftKings Inc DKNG has odds favoring the Astros to win game one at -140 compared to the Braves at +120. Series odds also favor the Astros winning it all at -150 compared to the Braves at +130.

Related Link: 8 Stocks To Watch For The NBA's 75th Anniversary Season 

Why It’s Important: The Atlanta Braves were valued at $1.88 billion in the latest Forbes Major League Baseball team rankings, coming in at 11th on the list. The value was up 4% from the previous year.

Liberty Braves Group has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion and an enterprise value of $1.94 billion, which could put the shares in line with the current value.

The  Braves season and performance might not be realized in shares yet. The company ranked second in attendance in the MLB, averaging 29,490 fans. That came after opening games in April limited to 33%, going to 50% on April 23 and finally welcoming 100% attendance on May 7.

Second-quarter revenue for the team was $216 million. In that quarter, the team had 42 home games, many of them not at 100% capacity. The next earnings report could show strength from 100% attendance and the strong numbers the team realized along with comments on how a deep playoff run could affect financials.

Two other Liberty public units own stakes in the Braves with Formula One Group FWONA owning around 11% and Liberty Sirius XM LSXMA owning around 4%.

The Braves stock is the second-largest holding in the Roundhill Pro Sports, Media & Apparel ETF MVP, representing 6.2% of assets.

Another stock to watch on the Braves strong season and deep playoff run is Sinclair Broadcast Group SBGI, which airs Braves games on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast. While the media company won’t get World Series games, it will likely have previews and interviews that fans will tune in to throughout the series.

One company that will be rooting for the Braves is Caesars Entertainment CZR, which took a $2 million wager from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale on the Houston Astros to win the World Series. Caesars would owe Mattress Mack $22 million if the Astros win the World Series, which would be the largest single U.S. sports betting payout in history.

BATRA Price Action: Shares closed up 2.6% at $29.94. Shares of the baseball team are up 17% year-to-date but remain relatively flat since the season began in April.

Shares of BATRA have traded between $20.19 and $34.99 over the last 52 weeks.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Aaron Harang warms up from the pitching mound at Turner Field, Atlanta, Ga., Jun. 13, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Justin P. Morelli /)