Los Angeles Angels fans received the best news in a decade yesterday when owner Arte Moreno announced he was selling the MLB team to Stan Kroenke.
Kroenke is widely regarded as one of the best owners in sports. In addition to being the largest private landowner in the United States with 2.7 million acres, Kroenke owns a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Rams (NFL), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Rapids (MLS), Colorado Mammoth (National Lacrosse League), Arsenal FC (Premier League), and Arsenal Women FC (Women’s Super League). His sports teams are now collectively worth more than $25 billion, and he has won major championships in the NFL, NBA, NHL, NLL, Premier League, and Women’s Champions League since 2022. It’s easily one of the best ownership runs we have ever seen in professional sports.
What you’ll read online is that Stan Kroenke got lucky. He married into the Walton family, became the family’s real estate broker, and then used that money to buy up farmland and sports teams, eventually becoming a billionaire himself.
But the real story is far more interesting. Kroenke didn’t just inherit Walmart money; he leveraged the retail chain to build a multibillion-dollar real estate portfolio and then realized that he could run the same playbook in sports, which everyone is now trying to copy. And here’s the craziest part: I don’t think the Angels deal is necessarily about the team; I think Kroenke is trying to take advantage of a weak lease agreement to buy hundreds of acres in Orange County for pennies on the dollar.
Let me explain…
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