With confetti in the air and cigar smoke blowing in his face, Atlanta Braves CEO Derek Schiller embraced the scene as his team celebrated its first World Series title since 1995.

The Braves beat the Houston Astros in six games, culminating with a 7-0 victory in Texas Tuesday night. The championship parade is set for Friday, and then Schiller, who took over as CEO in 2018, says the franchise will take a brief pause to rejuvenate.

“It was surreal and we haven’t come down from it yet,” Schiller said in an interview on Thursday. “Our goal from day one – from when I joined the organization 18 years ago to when I became CEO – was to win a World Series. Part of what you’re seeing is we finally reached our goal.”

Soon, it’s back to business.

Schiller wants to build the Braves fan base and take advantage of the team’s unique location in a region of the country where there’s little geographic competition. He also sees new revenue opportunities in sports gambling and crypto that need to be explored. And there’s the future of viewing and what happens to traditional TV revenue as consumers cut the cord.

For Schiller, a season that ended on the highest possible note was filled with months of adversity.

Despite winning the National League East division each of the prior three years, the Braves were in a bleak spot two-thirds of the way the through the season, with a 55-55 record as of early August. In July, they lost star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, after already watching their other two opening day outfielders hit the injured list.

Off the field, the organization found itself embroiled in an ugly political controversy. After Georgia officials passed a restrictive voting law, the MLB moved the 2021 All-Star Game to Denver from Atlanta. The league was praised by some and criticized by others, but the move was a setback to Liberty Media, the Braves’ owner, which lost significant revenue that would have come to Truist Park and the Battery Atlanta shopping district.

“We expressed our views on that, and there was certainly an attitude of disappointment because we wanted to showcase the ballpark and The Battery on the world stage,” Schiller said. “And we were working on it for a couple of years.”

In the end, getting to host three World Series games and win two of them was a fine tradeoff.

“There is a certain gratification that we were able to take the work we had done, and know while it didn’t happen then, it happened on the World Series stage,” Schiller said.

Schiller’s roster stepped up in a big way. During the regular season, first baseman Freddie Freeman hit 31 home runs and infielders Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley hit 30 and 33, respectively. Pitchers Charlie Morton and Max Fried both recorded 14-win seasons. Outfielder Jorge Soler then exploded in the World Series to win the most valuable player award, and pitcher Tyler Matzek proved unhittable out of the bullpen.

The Braves help out Liberty
Liberty, which purchased the Braves in 2007 for $1.5 billion from Time Warner, said the Braves were second in attendance this season, bringing in 2.3 million fans at $6.5 million per game.

against the Houston Astros in Game Six to win the 2021 World Series at Minute Maid Park on November 02, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
Bob Levey | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
One topic the Braves, and other MLB teams, will have to address is the future of regional sports networks, or RSNs.

Schiller negotiated the Braves’ current local media rights deal with Sinclair-owned Bally Sports. That RSN deal brings in more than $80 million annually and runs through 2027.

With cord-cutting increasing and the cable model deteriorating, RSNs are at risk, and the trickledown effect could hurt sports franchises. Schiller said he isn’t worried.

“There’s certainly a shift that’s occurring in regional sports networks and how sports content is distributed,” he said. “But we’re in the live content business, and live content is always going to be best positioned in these types of scenarios. While there might be a little bit of disruption that we’re seeing occur, this will all balance itself out.”

In wrapping up the interview, Schiller reflected on what he learned as Braves CEO over the last two years, particularly in navigating the pandemic.

“Culture matters, especially when hard times come,” he said. “Your culture internally and culture with your external community — it matters.”

Schiller said he had to communicate actively with ticketholders, who couldn’t attend games, and sponsors, who were without an audience.

“The pandemic taught us you can’t just put your head down and wait for the good times to come and bury yourself until that does,” he said.