Jump to content

Stan Kroenke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 71.206.55.231 (talk) at 03:02, 13 January 2016. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Stan Kroenke
Born
Enos Stanley Kroenke

(1947-07-29) July 29, 1947 (age 77)
Columbia, Missouri
Other namesStan Kroenki, Silent Stan
EducationB.A. University of Missouri, 1969
B.S. University of Missouri
MBA. University of Missouri
Occupation(s)St. Louis Rams owner/chairman, entrepreneur,
head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises
Founder, Kroenke Group, Columbia, MO
Owner, Pepsi Center arena in Denver, Colorado
Part owner, Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City
Political partyRepublican[1]
SpouseAnn Walton Kroenke (1973–present)
Children2, son Josh and daughter Whitney Ann
FamilyWalton

Enos Stanley "Stan" Kroenke (/ˈkrɒŋki/; born July 29, 1947) is an asswipe and a traitor to the city of St. Louis. He is the owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which includes the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and St. Louis Rams of the NFL (the Colorado sports properties are in the name of Josh Kroenke, one of his children, to satisfy NFL ownership restrictions that forbid a team owner from owning teams in other markets). Kroenke is also the largest shareholder of English football club Arsenal.

Kroenke is named after St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers Enos "Country" Slaughter and Stan "The Man" Musial. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is the daughter of Walmart co-founder James "Bud" Walton. Kroenke was estimated to be worth $US 7.7 billion by Forbes in 2015.

Personal life

Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri.

Kroenke accrued significant wealth when he and his wife Ann inherited a stake in Wal-Mart upon the death of Bud Walton. As of September 2015, that stake is worth $4.8 billion.[4]

Real estate

He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has built numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores. He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis in 1991.

Kroenke Sports Enterprises

Kroenke is a well-known sports mogul. As the head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, he bought a 40-percent stake in the National Football League's St. Louis Rams after their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the team from Charlie Lyons' Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, he partnered with Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and former Bronco quarterback John Elway to become part-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004, when he purchased the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz.

In 2010, Kroenke exercised his right of first refusal to buy the remaining interest in the St. Louis Rams from the estate of late owner Georgia Frontiere.[5] On August 25, 2010, he became full owner of the Rams by unanimous consent of the NFL. To gain approval from NFL owners, Kroenke agreed to turn over control of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to his son, Josh, by the end of 2010, and he had to give up his majority stake in both teams in December 2014. The NFL does not allow its owners to hold majority control of major league teams in other NFL markets.[6] On October 7, 2015, the NFL approved transfer of his ownership stake of the Avalanche and Nuggets to his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke.[7]

Kroenke Sports Enterprise also owns Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Nuggets and Avalanche, and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, home of the Rapids. Both venues were built by his development company. In 2004, Kroenke launched his own competitor to FSN Rocky Mountain (now known as Root Sports Rocky Mountain), Altitude, a new regional sports network which became the official broadcaster for both of Kroenke's teams on launch. Kroenke also established TicketHorse, a ticket company that provides in-house sales for all of his teams.

Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man. He is popularly known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press.[6] He rarely interferes in his teams' day-to-day operations.

Kroenke is the largest shareholder of Premier League football club Arsenal. Arsenal already had a technical link-up with Kroenke's Colorado Rapids when in April 2007 Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of ITV plc, had sold its 9.9-percent stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to Kroenke's KSE UK inc.[8] Kroenke went on to buy further shares in the club, taking his total stake up to 12.19 percent.[9] The club's board initially expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests,[10] but gradually warmed to him as part of counteracting Alisher Usmanov's rival bid for the club.

By June 2008 the board had prepared to let Kroenke take over the club,[11] and on 19 September 2008 it was officially announced that Kroenke had joined the Arsenal board of directors.[12] Kroenke had a beneficial interest in, and controlled voting rights, over 18,594 shares, representing 29.9 percent of the issued shares. Thus, he was nearing the maximum 29.99-percent threshold, beyond which he would be forced to make an offer for all remaining shares.[13]

On 10 April 2011, it was reported that Kroenke was in advanced talks to complete the takeover of Arsenal.[14][15] The following day, it was announced that he increased his shareholding in Arsenal to 62.89 percent by purchasing the stakes of Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, and agreed to make an offer for the rest of the club at £11,750 per share, valuing the club at £731M.[16][17]

St. Louis Rams stadium controversy

On January 5, 2015, it was announced that the Kroenke Group was teaming up with Stockbridge Capital Group to build a 70,240 fixed seat NFL stadium and venue in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, threatening the Rams' future in St. Louis. In response, St. Louis countered with the National Car Rental Field, a proposed open-air stadium in the north riverfront in downtown St. Louis with the hope of the Rams staying in St. Louis.[18] The fanbase in St. Louis felt it was not being treated fairly—in 2014 the St. Louis Rams had 86% attendance[19] despite its 11th straight losing season, forcing fans and local sportswriters to question the integrity of the NFL and Kroenke for even considering the Los Angeles plans.[20] St. Louis officials felt they were not receiving fair treatment either as Kroenke has (to date) had no talks or discussions with city officials, who have expressed interest in keeping the team in St. Louis. In a radio interview, Kroenke was labeled as "enemy number one" in his home state due to his uncanny nature and business style expressed by non-negotiations with St. Louis on the Rams' stadium situation.[21]

On November 30, 2015, Stan Kroenke met with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon at Rams Park in Earth City, Missouri.[22]

The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers are also unhappy with old stadiums (O.co Coliseum in Oakland and Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego respectively) lacking updated amenities and are proposing a stadium in Carson, California, another suburb of Los Angeles, in competition with Kroenke's Inglewood proposal.

On January 4, 2016, the Rams filed to transfer to Los Angeles for the 2016 NFL season, in addition with the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. The future city of these 3 teams lies in the hands of the other NFL owners as they will approve only one stadium plan in LA, and relocation must be met by a 3/4 majority vote among other owners. [23]

On January 5, 2016, the Rams and Stan Kroenke released their relocation reasons, which claim a number of different points in negative tones to the City of St. Louis and St. Louis sports fans. Kroenkes points have been widely accepted as incorrect as cited by the Mayor of St. Louis (who sent a letter to Roger Goodell explaining how Kroenke is incorrect),[24] The St. Louis Regional Chamber,[25] and Forbes.[26]

Due to the nature of Kroenke's relocation letter widely accepted as false, exaggerated and uncanny to the largest city in his home state; Kroenke has been labeled as St. Louis' Benedict Arnold.[27] In 2010 Stan Kroenke was quoted with saying: "I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. Just as I did everything that I could to bring the team to St. Louis in 1995. I believe my actions speak for themselves." He also hasn't spoken publicly with St. Louis fans since 2012.[28]

On January 12, 2016 the Rams were approved to relocate to Los Angeles with a 30-2 vote.

Other businesses

In 2006, Kroenke, in partnership with the money manager Charles Banks, acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle. (In April 2009, Banks said he was no longer involved with Screaming Eagle).[29]

Kroenke is a major owner of working ranches, owning a total of 848,631 acres. The Land Report magazine ranked him as the United States' ninth-largest landowner in 2015.[30][31]

References

  1. ^ "PAGE BY PAGE REPORT DISPLAY FOR 20036560003 (Page 5976 of 6121)". Images.nictusa.com. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  2. ^ "Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke pays price for low profile". Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  3. ^ Real Time Ranking (1970-01-01). "Stanley Kroenke". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  4. ^ "Forbes List: #79 Ann Walton Kroenke". Forbes. September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  5. ^ "Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke to purchase NFL side St Louis Rams". London: The Daily Telegraph. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "Stan Kroenke is new Rams owner". ESPN. 25 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "NFL owners let Kroenke keep Rams; transfer Nuggets, Avalanche to his wife". Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Kroenke buys stake in Arsenal". Soccernet.espn.go.com. 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  9. ^ "Arsenal Holdings plc - Holding(s) in Company". PLUS Markets Group. 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  10. ^ "Arsenal chairman to meet Kroenke". BBC. 2007-04-28. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  11. ^ Harris, Nick (2008-06-20). "Arsenal put Kroenke in position to take over club". London: Independent. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  12. ^ Main (2008-09-19). "Kroenke Welcomed On Board". Goal.com. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  13. ^ "Business | Kroenke nears Arsenal threshold". BBC News. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  14. ^ [1] [dead link‍]
  15. ^ "Exclusive: Kroenke poised for Control of Arsenal FC". Sky News. 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  16. ^ "Kroenke mounts Arsenal takeover". BBC News. 2011-04-11.
  17. ^ "Recommended Offer by KSE For Arsenal Holdings | News Archive | News". Arsenal.com. 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  18. ^ Farmer, Sam; Vincent, Roger (5 January 2015). "Owner of St. Louis Rams plans to build NFL stadium in Inglewood". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  19. ^ "2014 NFL Football Attendance - National Football League". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  20. ^ Caesar, Dan (2015-02-15). "St. Louis fans praised for supporting lousy Rams". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  21. ^ Roggin, Fred (2015-06-15). "StL Mayor's Office would welcome the Chargers or Raiders if Rams leave". The Beast 980. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  22. ^ "Intrigue at Rams Park: Kroenke meets with Nixon". St. Louis Post Dispatch. November 30, 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  23. ^ "Owner of St. Louis Rams plans to build NFL stadium in Inglewood". Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  24. ^ "Slay to Goodell: I cannot ever remember meeting Stan Kroenke". St. Louis Post Dispatch. January 7, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  25. ^ "St. Louis to Kroenke: You're 'preposterous'". St. Louis Post Dispatch. January 7, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  26. ^ "Stan Kroenke's Bad Relocation Math". St. Louis Post Dispatch. January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  27. ^ "Brennan: Stan Kroenke betrays St. Louis in bid to move Rams". USA Today. January 7, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  28. ^ "No going back now for Stan Kroenke and Rams fans in St. Louis". ESPN. January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  29. ^ Laube, James and Sogg, Daniel, Wine Spectator (March 21, 2006). "Screaming Eagle Sold".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ "Billionaire Stan Kroenke Buys $132.5 Million Broken O Ranch". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  31. ^ "2015 Land Report 100". The Land Report. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Stan_Kroenke&oldid=699568046"