Braves CEO Derek Schiller has World Series ring and plans to lure

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…