What is Stan Kroenke's Net Worth?
Stanley Kroenke is an American businessman who has a net worth of $12 billion dollars. That net worth makes Stan one of the richest people in Missouri. Stan Kroenke is best-known for owning Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the holding company of numerous sports teams throughout the US and UK. Through the company, he owns the English Association football club Arsenal F.C., the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, and the MLS's Colorado Rapids, among other teams.
Stan owns Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California. Both the Rams and the Chargers play at Sofi. It's also a popular live event location.
Kroenke created some controversy in 2021 when he was part of an aborted effort to end the traditional European football system.
He began his professional career in real estate, founding the Kroenke Group in the early 80s. The company focused on developing shopping centers and apartment complexes. After he married Ann Walton Kroenke, one of the Wal-Mart heirs, he also began developing Wal-Mart shopping centers. In the early 90s, he founded THF Realty, a development firm focused on suburban areas. In the mid-90s, he shifted his focus to sports team ownership, and launched Kroenke Sports Enterprises.
Early Life
Stan Kroenke was born as Enos Stanley Kroenke on July 29, 1947 in Columbia, Missouri. He grew up in the tiny unincorporated community of Mora, where his father owned Mora Lumber Company. There, Kroenke had his first job sweeping the floor at the lumber yard. When he was 10, he was promoted to bookkeeping. Kroenke went to Cole Camp High School, where he played basketball and baseball and ran track.
Beginnings in Real Estate
In 1983, Kroenke founded the Kroenke Group, a real estate development firm specializing in apartment buildings and shopping centers. Later, in 1991, he founded another real estate development company called THF Realty in St. Louis. Specializing in suburban development, particularly the building of retail shopping centers, the group has a portfolio valued at over $2 billion.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
Kroenke's biggest claim to fame is his sports and entertainment holding company Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which he founded in Denver, Colorado in 1999. The company has ownership of five professional sports franchises and one association football club. Additionally, it has control over multiple stadiums, professional esports teams, television channels, magazines, websites, and radio stations. The company's sports holdings include the English football clubs Arsenal F.C. and Arsenal W.F.C.; the NFL's Los Angeles Rams; the NBA's Denver Nuggets; the NHL's Colorado Avalanche; the MLS's Colorado Rapids; the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth; the Overwatch League's Los Angeles Gladiators; and the Call of Duty League's Los Angeles Guerrillas.
On the real estate side of things, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns Ball Arena in Denver, and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. In 2002, Kroenke purchased Denver's historic Paramount Theatre. As part of his ownership of the football club Arsenal, Kroenke also has ownership of its stadium, Emirates Stadium, in London. Meanwhile, on the media side of things, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns the regional cable and satellite television channel Altitude Sports and Entertainment. Through the channel, the company co-owns World Fishing Network, and owns Outdoor Channel.
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St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams
In 1995, Kroenke was part of the effort to move the NFL's Los Angeles Rams to St. Louis; in doing so, he purchased a 30% share of the team. Kroenke later became full owner of the team in 2010. Three years later, the Rams and the City of St. Louis went into arbitration over a clause in the team's lease that required its stadium to be in the top tier of all NFL stadiums. The arbitrators sided with the Rams, giving them permission to break their original lease and take on a year-to-year lease agreement.
In 2015, the Kroenke Group partnered with Stockbridge Capital Group to construct a 70,000-seat NFL stadium in Inglewood, California with the hopes of bringing the Rams back to Los Angeles. The City of St. Louis countered by creating National Car Rental Field. In early 2016, the NFL approved the Rams' application to relocate back to Los Angeles for the 2017 season. Subsequently, the City of St. Louis as well as the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority filed a lawsuit against the NFL seeking damages and restitution of profits.
Arsenal and European Super League Controversy
Kroenke joined the board of directors of Arsenal Holdings in 2008, and was given a beneficial interest in over 18,594 shares. By 2011, he increased his shareholding to 62.89%, and made an offer for the rest of the club at £11,750 per share. Later, in 2018, he made an offer of around £600 million, bringing his ownership of shares to over 90%.
Kroenke caused a significant deal of controversy in April of 2021, when he sought to end the traditional pyramid system of European football by creating a closed European Super League, of which Arsenal would be a part. Following a major backlash, however, Arsenal and the five other English clubs involved in the plan reneged. Arsenal then protested, and exhorted the Kroenke family to sell the club, which they refused to do.
Other Endeavors
Among his additional ventures, Kroenke acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle in 2006. He is also an owner of numerous working ranches, owning a total of nearly 850,000 acres. One of his notable purchases was the Waggoner Ranch in Texas, the biggest ranch in the country to be contained within one fence. In 2015, The Land Report magazine listed Kroenke as the ninth-largest landowner in the United States.
Personal Life
While skiing in Aspen, Colorado, Kroenke met Walmart heiress Ann Walton; the two married in 1974. Later, in 1995, they inherited a stake in Walmart when Walton's father passed away. Overall, Kroenke is relatively private about his life, and seldom gives press interviews.
