If you want to own a piece of a Major League Baseball team, there’s exactly one franchise where you can do it the way you buy Apple or Tesla: through the stock market.
The Atlanta Braves are the only MLB team that trades publicly. You can buy their shares—ticker symbols BATRA or BATRK—on the Nasdaq any trading day. It sounds simple. The reality is more complicated, and that’s the part almost nobody explains.
The Voting Catch
Here’s the thing: not all Braves shares are created equal. If you buy BATRK, the Class C shares, you own a piece of the team but you own zero votes. None. Class A shares get one vote each, but they’re not the ones trading on the public market for regular fans to grab.
This structure matters because it means you can pour money into the Braves and still have no say in how the team is run. You’re an investor in the business, not a stakeholder in decisions. The voting power stays concentrated with people like Terry McGuirk, who has controlled the team’s day-to-day operations.
The Atlanta Braves set up this two-tier system years ago, and it’s perfectly legal. Plenty of public companies do it. But in baseball, where fan passion runs deep and ownership debates get personal, it’s worth understanding what you’re actually buying when you click that trade button.
Toronto’s Different Path
There’s one other MLB franchise with a public market angle: the Toronto Blue Jays. But they got there a different way. The Azulejos de Toronto are owned by Rogers Communications, a Canadian telecom and media company that trades publicly. If you buy shares of Rogers Communications (ticker RCI), you technically become a co-owner of the franchise.
Edward S. Rogers III, the company’s chairman and controlling shareholder, runs Rogers Communications and with it, the Azulejos de Toronto. So the path to owning a piece of Toronto is indirect—you’re buying the parent company, not the team directly. Most people who own RCI shares probably aren’t thinking about baseball at all.
The Atlanta Braves approach is more straightforward: you’re buying Braves stock specifically. But that voting structure still creates a wall between public shareholders and actual team control.
Why This Matters Now
In 2026, the Braves ownership structure is more relevant than ever. As more people look for ways to connect with teams they love—whether through fantasy leagues, sports betting, or direct investment—the option to buy Braves shares looks appealing on the surface. It’s democratic. It’s accessible. You don’t need to be a billionaire or a corporate entity.
But walk into it with your eyes open. The voting-rights gap means public shareholders are funding the business without steering the ship. That’s not necessarily bad—plenty of investors are happy being passive. It just means if you disagree with how the Braves are spending money, how much they’re charging for tickets, or what kind of team they’re building, your ownership stake won’t give you a voice in the room where those decisions happen.
John Malone, who has significant influence in sports and media ownership through Liberty Media and other ventures, represents the kind of concentrated control that’s more typical in baseball. Most teams are privately held by individuals or tight groups. The Braves and Azulejos de Toronto are exceptions—windows into what baseball ownership looks like when it goes public.
For fans curious about the money side of baseball, that window is worth looking through. Just remember: owning the stock and owning the team are two different things.
The number: Atlanta Braves Class C shares (BATRK) trade on Nasdaq but come with zero voting rights—you own the team financially but have no say in how it’s run.
Ownership data verified as of 2026-08-12.
