Long before live sports dominated television and drove billions in media rights deals, the televised sports landscape was limited, local, and low-priority. In this episode, we explore how Ted Turner saw something no one else did: that sports weren’t just games — they were powerful, 162-game-long TV shows. And when he turned the worst team in baseball into a programming goldmine for his upstart UHF station, he didn’t just change his channel — he changed the entire business of sports.

From the rise of color TV to the birth of cable, Ted Turner saw that sports could be more than entertainment — they could anchor an entire network. When he bought the Atlanta Braves, it wasn’t for wins; it was for airtime. He packed his station with baseball games, outrageous stunts, and a whole lot of personality, turning a last-place team into the South’s favorite pastime. Along the way, he redefined sports ownership, took on the league’s old guard, and helped lay the groundwork for the 24/7 sports era we live in today. This is the wild, unlikely story of how one media maverick turned a struggling team into a national phenomenon — and rewrote the rules of both television and sports in the process.

Follow us on X + Instagram + YouTube + Linkedin

Sign up for our newsletter

Email us: [email protected] 

Listen to Hi Barr’s You Had To Be There

For business inquiries, please email: [email protected]

Writing, research, and production by Web Barr.

Artwork by Dylan Lathrop.

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).

Books used in Episode 3. Get em here!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices