Arsenal and Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke gets huge £600m boost

Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke laughs on the way to the bank.

This is because one of the teams he owns was ranked among the three most valuable sports teams in the world, meaning his net worth has increased by more than £2 billion.

Arsenal's owner since 2011, the 77-year-old has raked in a whopping £13.3bn, an increase of £2.6bn in the last 12 months.

Kroenke is no stranger to riches, having married Ann Walton, heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune in 1944, before entering real estate.

He later brought his business knowledge to the world of sports, media and entertainment and founded the company Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in 1999.

That's when he became the owner of the NBA franchise. Denver Nuggets followed by the acquisition of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.

Kroenke then added the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and MLS's Colorado Rapids, but it's the Super Bowl 56 champions who have provided him with his latest cash infusion.

Earlier this month, Forbes released its list of the 50 most valuable sports teams on the planet and the Rams came in third place ahead of the New York Yankees.

The Rams are now valued at a staggering £6bn, almost £4m more than Arsenal valued at £2.1bn in the Forbes World Football List published earlier this year.

Only six soccer teams made the top 50 list, those being manchester united, Liverpool, city ​​of manchesterReal Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Rams' valuation increased 10 per cent year-on-year (£600m) and substantial increases were seen across the NFL.

As expected, North American sports teams dominated the list with the dallas cowboys on top with a staggering £7.95 billion before the warriors of the golden state (£6.93 billion).

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While the Premier League's global reach among fans is not in doubt, the media deals in place for NFL teams in particular have tipped the scales in its favor.

For example, each NFL team receives around £300m per year on average across the league's entire national media rights package, which will pay out around £100bn until 2033 (£60bn over 11 seasons). .

Kroenke's Denver Nuggets, valued at just over £3bn, failed to make the list despite being crowned NBA champions in 2023.

Speaking about the success of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Kroenke's son Josh said: “The benefit of the organization that my father has built has given us the ability to cross-fertilize certain concepts and ideas into similar but different businesses, and those are our teams.”

Kroenke was the subject of backlash from fans after Arsenal became one of six English clubs backed to join the European Super League project in 2021.

Gunners fans made their feelings clear with protests calling for Kroenke to sell the club and Josh admits there were concrete offers from different quarters around the world to acquire the north London club.

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When asked if there was a temptation to sell, Josh said: “No, there never really was. My dad and our family are long-term investors and holders.”

“For me personally, I've been involved with the club for over ten years, around the board, and I really enjoy it and love the club. “I knew it would be very rewarding to be back in a position to be successful and show that some people are wrong along the way.

“The real reward is that when you walk into the stadium, you feel the energy of what's going on, that's the absolute reward of anything I could have ever imagined.”