Atlanta Braves Holdings just refuses to read the room

They can’t buy a win — but they sure can charge more to watch a loss.

For such a well-run organization — consistently ranked among baseball’s best by players and executives — Atlanta Braves Holdings continues to be bafflingly out of touch with its fans.

First, it was the acquisition of Pennant Park, which dovetails with their real estate strategy but suffered from awful timing. Announcing the purchase in the midst of a season-opening losing streak, one that would extend to seven that very same day after the Braves were walked off by Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, was…not well received by the fanbase.

And they’ve done it again, this time with changes to the season ticket program. Let’s talk about it.

A-List Members got a surprise this week

Season ticket invoices were sent out early this week for 2026, and there are several changes being made to the team’s season ticket programs.

That is, of course, if you were even invited to renew your tickets for 2026.

Several reports have come out that many A-List members didn’t get an opportunity to renew for 2026. There’s been no official explanation for why some A-List Members couldn’t renew, but it likely ties back to the team’s increasingly strict resale policy.

Every single MLB team has rules about how many of a season ticket holder’s tickets are allowed to be resold per year. Atlanta’s threshold, I’ve been told, was as high as 70% back in 2024. It was lowered to 62% last year. It’s now been lowered again, to 50% for 2026. If you have a full-season plan, selling more than 40 games’ worth of tickets could cost you your spot next year and even smaller percentages of sales can jeopardize access to postseason tickets.

Frustratingly, this applies to your tickets whether or not you still own them. If you transfer a ticket to a friend or family member as a gift and they later sell the ticket, you are still punished as if you sold the ticket. It’s tracked per account, no matter if you or someone else made the sale.

Losing the opportunity to renew could also have to do with Atlanta’s reported elimination of some of the smaller ticket plans. The 27-game plan, long a popular and advertised option by the team that allowed you to choose either a “giveaways” package or a “rivals” package, is reportedly no longer available for signup by potential members whose names are being called off the waiting list.

Anecdotal reports are that the organization has created more “premium” seating options in recent seasons, necessitating the relocation of several ‘lower-tier’ season ticket holders to less desirable seats.

But that’s not even the worst part.

Paying more for a worse product

Fans are being relocated to worse seats, pushed into bigger packages, and told they can’t sell as many games - all while paying more for the privilege.

Per reports, price increases of 15% to 50% have been shared by A-List members across Braves Country. It’s hitting everyone, from “Unc-Zuna” being charged 44% more to sit behind the Braves dugout in full uniform to reddit posters being charged a 28% increase after absorbing a double-digit increase the previous season.

And this is what’s coming after a season in which the Braves have one of the worst winning percentages in the entire National League, ahead of only three teams entering play on Monday.

Imagine how much worse it could be if the Braves had another winning season that ends in a postseason berth, as each of the previous seven have.

I’m not saying the team can’t raise prices - they’re absolutely allowed to do that. The organization won the World Series in 2021 and then followed that up with being awarded the All-Star Game this season, prompting an understandable surge in demand. This is how the free market works.

But hiking prices after this season? It’s not just bad timing - it’s borderline insulting.

It’s predictably not being received well across Braves Country. With the caveat that disgruntled people are a lot louder than satisfied ones, reports are flooding in from Facebook, Twitter, and other fan forums about a wave of members either downgrading their packages to smaller sizes or letting their tickets go altogether, due to the higher prices, more restrictive resale policies, and the team’s underperformance on the field.

The Braves could have found a better way to manage this. Increase some of the benefits, not decrease them. Keep prices the same instead of raising them. Sacrifice some of the potential revenue improvements to improve goodwill.

Look, I’m sure there’s a spreadsheet somewhere that says this will all work out — projecting cancellations, calculating break-evens, forecasting revenue gains. But fans don’t care about spreadsheets. They care about feeling valued.

This feels like a betrayal, not a business move

And that’s the part Braves Holdings seems to be missing. Fans aren’t just mad about the team underperforming - they’re feeling squeezed, ignored, and disrespected. When your most loyal supporters are losing money on their tickets, asking them to pay more isn’t just a bad business decision. It’s a breach of trust.

The Braves love to tout how connected they are to the community - how much the fanbase means to the organization. But actions like these say something else entirely. They say loyalty is transactional. They say your support only matters when it’s profitable. And for a team that’s struggling on the field, that’s a dangerous message to send.