Ted Turner, former owner of the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks, died Wednesday, Turner Enterprises announced. He was 87.
While Turner built quite a career and reputation in sports, he made his money in television and radio. After taking over his father’s advertising company, Turner eventually expanded to radio and television. His television station, WTCG, eventually acquired the rights to broadcast Braves and Hawks games, setting the stage for Turner’s future in sports.
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After years of broadcasting Braves and Hawks games, Turner decided to buy both franchises. In 1976, he purchased the Braves. A year later, he bought the Hawks. Eventually, WTCG became WTBS and Turner had a platform to put Braves games in front of a national audience regularly. Given the state of television media at that point, the Braves were one of the few teams have a consistent national audience, making them one of the most-watched teams in the league.
Turner’s ownership of the Braves was not without its controversies. He almost immediately ran afoul of the league, and was suspended for a year in 1977 by then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn for violating the league’s free-agency rules to sign outfielder Gary Matthews. The team was also docked its first-round draft pick for Turner’s actions.
Neither punishment stuck, however, as Turner successfully appealed and had them overturned by Kuhn.
But Turner wasn’t done making waves around the league in 1977. With the Braves on a 16-game losing streak that May, Turner actually managed the team for one game. He lost that contest and was told by then-National League president Chub Feeney that it was a conflict of interest for Turner to own the team and be its manager. Turner once again appealed the issue to Kuhn, but was denied this time around.
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In the ‘80s, Turner took on a lesser role with the Braves. He owned the team until 2007, when it was sold to Liberty Media.
During his tenure as the team’s owner, the Braves appeared in five World Series, winning one of them. Turner was not involved in day-to-day operations during the team’s fantastic run in the ‘90s and 2000s, but still owned the team when it made 14-straight postseason appearances.
This story will be updated.
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