Atlanta Braves Holdings, Inc. Stock Compensation Disclosure
(11) Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense of $15.6 million, $16.5 million and $13.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. These amounts are included in selling, general and administrative expense, including stock-based compensation in the consolidated statements of operations.
Incentive Plans
Prior to the Split-Off and pursuant to the Liberty Media Corporation 2022 Omnibus Incentive Plan, Liberty granted, to certain of its directors, employees and employees of its subsidiaries, RSAs, RSUs and stock options to purchase shares of Liberty Braves common stock. At the time of the Split-Off, the Awards were exchanged into RSAs, RSUs and stock options to purchase shares of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock.
Subsequent to the Split-Off, the Company can grant, to its directors, employees and employees of its subsidiaries, RSAs, RSUs and stock options to purchase shares of its common stock, under the Atlanta Braves Holdings 2023 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2023 Plan”) and may grant Awards in respect of a maximum of 7.25 million shares of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock.
Awards generally vest over 1-5 years and have a term of 7-8 years. The Company issues new shares upon exercise or settlement, as applicable, of Awards. The Company measures the cost of employee services received in exchange for an equity classified Award (such as RSAs, RSUs and stock options) based on the grant-date fair value (“GDFV”) of the Award, and recognizes that cost over the period during which the employee is required to provide service (usually the vesting period of the Award). The Company measures the cost of employee services received in exchange for a liability classified Award based on the current fair value of the Award, and remeasures the fair value of the Award at each reporting date.
Grants of Awards
Awards granted in 2025, 2024 and 2023 are summarized as follows:
Years ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||
Awards | Weighted | Awards | Weighted | Awards | Weighted | |||||||||||
granted | average | granted | average | granted | average | |||||||||||
(000’s) | GDFV | (000’s) | GDFV | (000’s) | GDFV | |||||||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock options, Braves employees (1) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | 476 | $ | 14.81 | |||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock options, Liberty employees and directors (2) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | 90 | $ | 14.78 | |||||||
Series C Liberty Braves common stock options, Liberty employees and directors (2) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | 3 | $ | 14.24 | |||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock RSUs, Braves employees and directors (2) | 272 | $ | 38.61 | 122 | $ | 40.00 | 411 | $ | 37.14 | |||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock RSUs, Liberty employees and directors (3) | — | $ | — | 20 | $ | 38.58 | 44 | $ | 37.40 | |||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock RSUs, Liberty CEO (5) | — | $ | — | 35 | $ | 38.58 | — | $ | — | |||||||
Series C Liberty Braves common stock RSUs, Liberty employees and directors (4) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | 19 | $ | 34.51 | |||||||
Series C Liberty Braves common stock RSUs, Liberty CEO (5) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | 31 | $ | 34.44 | |||||||
Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock RSUs, Braves employees (6) | 528 | $ | 45.95 | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | |||||||
| (1) | Vests annually over three years. |
| (2) | Mainly one and three years for employees and in one year for directors. |
| (3) | Mainly vests annually over three years for employees and in one year for directors. |
| (4) | Mainly vests in one year for directors and one year from the month of grant for employees, subject to the satisfaction of certain performance objectives. |
| (5) | Cliff vests one year from the month of grant, subject to the satisfaction of certain performance objectives and based on an amount determined by the Company’s compensation committee. |
| (6) | Cliff vests between 0% to 200% on December 31, 2027, subject to the satisfaction of certain performance objectives and based on an amount determined by the Company’s compensation committee. |
For Awards that are performance-based, performance objectives are considered in determining the timing and amount of compensation expense recognized. When the satisfaction of the performance objectives becomes probable, the Company records compensation expense. The probability of satisfying the performance objectives is assessed at the end of each reporting period.
The Company did not grant any options to purchase shares of Series A or Series B Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023.
In connection with the Liberty Chief Executive Officer’s employment agreement, Liberty granted 35 thousand performance-based RSUs of Atlanta Braves Holdings Series C common stock to the Liberty Chief Executive Officer in March 2024. Such RSUs had a GDFV of $38.58 per share. In August 2024, and in connection with the Corporate Governance Transition, such RSUs were vested in full as to the target number of shares underlying such RSUs.
The Company has calculated the GDFV for all of its equity classified awards using the Black-Scholes valuation model. The Company estimates the expected term of the Awards based on historical exercise and forfeiture data. For grants made in 2023, the range of expected terms was 5.55 to 5.58 years. The volatility used in the calculation for Awards is based on the historical volatility of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock (and previously, Liberty Braves common stock). For grants made in 2023, the range of volatilities was 33.3% to 33.8%. The Company uses a zero dividend rate and the risk-free rate for Treasury Bonds with a term similar to that of the subject options. There were no grants of stock options made in 2025 or 2024.
Outstanding Awards
The following table presents the number and weighted average exercise price (“WAEP”) of options to purchase Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock, granted to certain officers, employees and directors, as well as the weighted average remaining life and aggregate intrinsic value of the options.
Series C | ||||||||||||
| | | | Weighted | | Aggregate |
| |||||
average | intrinsic |
| ||||||||||
Atlanta Braves Holdings | remaining | value |
| |||||||||
| options (000's) |
| WAEP |
| life |
| (in millions) | |||||
Outstanding at January 1, 2025 |
| 2,936 |
| $ | 28.75 | |||||||
Granted |
| — |
| $ | — | |||||||
Exercised |
| (345) |
| $ | 28.02 | |||||||
Forfeited/Cancelled |
| — |
| $ | — | |||||||
Outstanding at December 31, 2025 |
| 2,591 |
| $ | 28.84 |
| 2.4 | years |
| $ | 27 | |
Exercisable at December 31, 2025 |
| 2,433 |
| $ | 28.28 |
| 2.3 | years |
| $ | 27 | |
As of December 31, 2025, there were no outstanding Series A or Series B options to purchase shares of Series A or Series B Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock.
As of December 31, 2025, the total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested Atlanta Braves Holdings Awards was approximately $34.7 million. Such amount will be recognized in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations over a weighted average period of approximately 1.3 years.
As of December 31, 2025, 2.6 million shares of Series C Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock were reserved by the Company for issuance under exercise privileges of outstanding stock options.
Exercises
The aggregate intrinsic value of all Atlanta Braves Holdings Series C stock options and Liberty Braves Series A and Series C stock options, on a combined basis, exercised during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 was $5.1 million, $7.6 million and $2.5 million, respectively.
RSAs and RSUs
The Company had approximately 0.9 million unvested RSUs of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock held by certain directors, officers and employees as of December 31, 2025. These Series C unvested RSUs of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock had a weighted average GDFV of $31.19 per share.
The aggregate fair value of all RSAs and RSUs of Atlanta Braves Holdings common stock and Liberty Braves common stock, on a combined basis, that vested during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 was $9.2 million, $13.9 million and $6.1 million, respectively.
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Feb 26, 2026 | Showing above |
| 2024 | Mar 3, 2025 | |
| 2023 | Feb 29, 2024 | |
About Stock Compensation Disclosures
Stock-based compensation disclosures detail the equity awards granted to employees and executives — including stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), and performance shares — along with the valuation methods and assumptions used to expense them. This section reveals the true cost of talent retention and the alignment between management incentives and shareholder interests.
Key signals: total unrecognized compensation expense and its expected recognition period signal future earnings headwinds from already-granted awards. For stock options, examine Black-Scholes assumptions — expected volatility, risk-free rate, and expected term — as understating any of these reduces reported compensation expense. Compare stock compensation expense as a percentage of revenue against peers to assess dilution cost. Watch vesting schedules for acceleration clauses tied to change-of-control events. Performance-based awards with undemanding targets may indicate weak governance. Add back stock compensation to operating cash flow to calculate a more conservative free cash flow figure.