In recent years, an increasing number of Premier League football clubs – and indeed clubs lower down on the football pyramid – have been purchased by American individuals or consortia. This is in part because they believe there is real value in English football, compared to sports franchises in the States.
Sides like the LA Lakers and Dallas Cowboys (in basketball and American football, respectively) are valued at around $10 billion. In contrast, Todd Boehly and his consortium bought Chelsea for £4.25 billion, around $5.7 billion, while 49ers Enterprises picked up Leeds United for a fraction of that; and Stan Kroenke’s deal to buy Arsenal valued the Gunners at a modest £1.8 billion (back in 2018).
As commercial as the Premier League seems to be and as lucrative as the television deals appear, business people in the US believe there is a lot more money that can be squeezed out of football. The EPL, in particular, has massive global appeal and that has attracted a slew of US investment.
Who Is Stan Kroenke?
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US ownership in English football isn’t new, of course. Even Boehly has been at Chelsea for a little while now, while the much-maligned Glazers have been involved with Manchester United for two decades now. Randy Lerner bought Aston Villa in 2006, and Liverpool have had two separate American owners since 2007.
However, our focus in this article is on Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke. In common with other owners, the 78-year-old from Missouri does not just own one sports club. A multi-club model is often used in football as it allows expertise to be shared, and also makes loan and permanent transfers easier to arrange. There are certain economies of scale, but on the whole, Kroenke’s sporting ownership is primarily focused beyond the beautiful game. But which sports teams does the American billionaire own?
Arsenal
Let’s start with the club he is most known for in England: Arsenal. The Missouri native first tried to take ownership of the Gunners back in 2007. Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri (the latter of whom would go on to buy Everton) competed with the American for shares in the club. Over time, Kroenke managed to steadily increase his holding.
In August 2018, he finally bought out Usmanov for £550 million, thus taking his share of the club over the 90% required to complete a total buyout. Then valued at less than £2 billion, it is thought Arsenal could fetch close to £3 billion today. However, some fans remain unhappy with the lack of success on the pitch. The Gunners have finished second in the PL in each of the last three campaigns and have never won the Champions League. They seem to be on the right track now with Mikel Arteta and Kroenke, but unless they finally win one of the two biggest prizes, discontent will continue to grow.
It should also be noted that Kroenke (via KSE) also owns Arsenal’s women’s side. The female Gunners have been very successful under his ownership, landing the league title several times and even the Champions League (in 2024/25).
Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche
In 1999, Kroenke set up Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) to be the parent company for all his sports holdings. Its headquarters are in Denver, Colorado, and the company bought the local NBA team, the Denver Nuggets, and the hockey team, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. They helped build the arena where both teams play, the Ball Arena.
The Nuggets won their first NBA Championship ever in 2023. Kroenke helped turn them from an average side at best into one that has won the Divisional Championship six times since 2006. The Avalanche are a relatively new team, having been formed when the Quebec Nordiques relocated ahead of the 1995/96 season. They won the Stanley Cup that year, before Kroenke’s involvement, but then went on to win it in both 2001, their greatest season ever, and also 2022.
Colorado Mammoth
UK sports fans will have heard of many Kroenke teams, but perhaps not the Mammoth, who also call the Ball Arena home. They are a box lacrosse (essentially indoor lacrosse) team, now based in Colorado, but the franchise has previously played in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Washington under different names.
Kroenke bought the Mammoth in 2004, and they have been very successful, landing the title in 2006 and 2022. Surprisingly – at least for UK readers – box lacrosse is massive in certain parts of North America, and the average attendance for Mammoth games has sometimes eclipsed that for either the Avalanche or the Nuggets.
Colorado Rapids
Kroenke bought the Raids at the same time he acquired the Mammoth, buying both from Phil Anschutz. The Rapids play football, or soccer if we must, in the MLS, and play at the catchily named Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. They won the MLS Cup in 2010, came second overall in the regular season in 2016 and topped their conference in 2021. However, generally, they have not performed particularly well under Kroenke, which may be of some concern to Arsenal fans.
Colorado Crush
Kroenke previously owned the Colorado Crush, the last of his many “Colorado” teams. The franchise existed between 2003 and 2008 and played arena football. This is, in simple terms, indoor American football on a smaller pitch.
Los Angeles Rams
The billionaire sports team owner first took an interest in an NFL team back in 1995, one of his first such investments. He helped move the LA Rams to St Louis at a time when he bought a 30% interest in the franchise. Such changes may be anathema to UK fans, and in football, the MK Dons are the choice of few neutrals, but in the US, name changes and switches of city are common.
What is less common (though not unheard of) is a team moving back to their previous home. Despite stating in 2010 that he was going to do “everything that I can to keep the Rams in St Louis”, in early 2015, Kroenke announced a new NFL stadium would be built in Inglewood (in the LA suburbs). They were back in LA for the 2016 season and made the Super Bowl in the 2018 campaign, losing to the Patriots. However, Kroenke did deliver success with the Rams, his side landing the NFL’s biggest prize in 2022 (2021 season). He had previously been a co-owner of the Rams (St Louis edition!) when they won the Super Bowl in January 2000.
Esports Teams
In addition to these many sports teams, Arsenal’s owner also has the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Los Angeles Guerrillas. Both are esports teams and are based at Hollywood Park, close to the Rams’ home.