Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has seen his biggest teams rejuvenated this season, hinting at a change in approach
Stan Kroenke has had to become accustomed to criticism from supporters of his under-performing sports teams on either side of the Atlantic.
For years, Kroenke’s outfits – among them Arsenal, NFL side the LA Rams and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets – have fallen short of competing for the top prizes, while the 71-year-old has shown little resolve to address those failings with his ownership decisions.
But the last few months have seen something of a resurgence from the biggest names in the Kroenke Sports Enterprises portfolio, hinting at a new approach from the American.
Arsenal’s promising start to the season has included a 17-game unbeaten run across all competitions – and they are not the only team in the Kroenke empire to be enjoying an uplift in fortunes.
The LA Rams are currently one of the in-form sides in the NFL and have improved dramatically over the last two years – since their return to Los Angeles – to become real Super Bowl contenders.
Kroenke, whose estimated fortune has grown from $7.5bn (£5.87bn) to $8.5bn (£6.65bn) in the last 18 months, has reinvented the Rams since becoming majority owner in 2010, moving them back to their former home of California after 20 years as the St Louis Rams in Missouri, some 2,940km away.
Uprooting them to the more lucrative LA market left their St Louis fanbase isolated and disillusioned with what used to be their team, many of whom consider them to now be a different enterprise entirely.
While teams relocating with such ease in American sports may seem a bizarre notion to British sport fans, however, the move does not sound as extreme given that the Rams resided by the West Coast from 1946 to 1994 before being transported east.
A $5bn stadium
Kroenke has invested heavily in the move, contributing $1.6bn (£1.25bn) to a new $5bn (£3.91bn) stadium likely to be the most expensive ever built that the Rams will share with another relocated franchise, the LA Chargers, on land in Inglewood that he bought in 2014.
That is not the only drastic action Kroenke has taken. He also appointed the NFL’s youngest ever head coach, Sean McVay, who is just 32 and now in his second season in charge.
McVay took the Rams to their first playoffs since 2004 in his first season as a head coach last year. Although they were eliminated in the first round, it was a sign of the direction the team were heading after a decade as one of the worst of the league’s 32 teams.
This season they have won 10 of their 11 games, the joint best record in the NFL, and they lead the NFC West division. They are considered second favourites to win the Super Bowl as they head into the final weeks of the season, with LA truly back on the NFL map.
The renewed optimism at Arsenal this season has also followed major changes.
After 22 years, the club parted ways with manager Arsene Wenger, while simultaneously restructuring the club behind the scenes. They now have a head of football in Raul Sanllehi, previously of Barcelona, and a new managing director in Vinai Venkatesham, while head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, is expected to be promoted to technical director.
Bumper wages
Another of Kroenke’s teams that seems to be reaping the rewards of a change in approach is the Denver Nuggets. They sit top of the North West division and third in the Western conference on the back of a good run that has taken them to 14-7 for the season. They have a real chance of making the playoffs after a five-year absence.
The changes in Denver have been more subtle and what appears to have made the real difference is player recruitment. The Nuggets splashed out to tie down star man Nikola Jokic on a long-term deal, worth a reported $148m (£115.9m) over five years, while former MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas has been lured to the team for next to nothing along with some other astute additions.
How involved Kroenke has been in that is hard to tell, but it’s clear that investment into his teams through either player recruitment, backroom staff or a new stadium has played a significant role in his teams’ resurgence.
Whether his motivation to introduce those changes has been the pursuit of sporting glory for its own ends or the beneficial effect it has on the teams’ bottom lines remains to be seen. But there are some promising signs for Arsenal fans that as Kroenke’s wealth grows, his investment into improving his teams may too.