Stan Kroenke Is the Best Owner Angels Fans Could Have Hoped For

The owner of the Los Angeles Rams has agreed to buy the Angels for a record $4 billion. He’s already turned several teams across different sports into winners.

Stan Kroenke has agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Angels for a record price. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Stan Kroenke’s vast international sports empire may finally be complete. 

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Kroenke had purchased a controlling interest in the Angels from Arte Moreno for a $4 billion valuation. It would mark a new record price for an MLB franchise, surpassing the $3.9 billion the Padres sold for earlier this year. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.

“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market. We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization,” Kroenke said in a statement. 

Kroenke now has a team in each of the four major U.S. sports, as Kroenke Sports & Entertainment already owns the NFL’s Rams, the NBA’s Nuggets and the NHL’s Avalanche. That’s in addition to owning Premier League champions Arsenal and its women’s team, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth. With the addition of the Angels, Kroenke’s sports and entertainment properties are now valued at more than $26 billion, making him MLB’s richest owner over the Mets’ Steve Cohen. In addition to those sports franchises, he owns SoFi Stadium and the surrounding Hollywood Park development, and is the largest private landowner in the U.S.

When the Padres went up for sale, Kroenke’s name was surprisingly absent from the public bidding despite his deep ties to Southern California. Now we may know why. Moreno had previously flirted with selling the franchise in the summer of 2022 before pulling it off the market in early ‘23. Kroenke very well may have been waiting for years to pounce on a team even closer to his crown jewel of an NFL team.

The Rams and SoFi already made Kroenke an enormously powerful presence in Los Angeles, but adding the Angels further expands his influence in L.A. and Orange County. Angel Stadium and the development of the 150-acre city-owned land surrounding it have been issues for years. Given Kroenke’s cachet, financial clout and the success of his SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park development, the future of the property immediately becomes one of the most intriguing questions about his ownership.

Longtime Angels star Mike Trout is under contract through the 2030 season for roughly $37 million per year. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The good news for Angels fans is that Kroenke’s teams win. In the past five years, his teams have won several major championships. The Rams won Super Bowl LVI in 2022; the Avalanche hoisted the Stanley Cup in ’22; the Nuggets won their first NBA title in ’23; Arsenal’s women’s team won the Champions League in ’25; and Arsenal’s men won the Premier League last season for the first time in 22 years while finishing as runner-up in the Champions League. 

It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Kroenke the best sports owner in the world right now. He is willing to spend money and produces teams that are consistently competitive at the highest levels. The key isn’t that Kroenke has money; it’s that he knows how to build winning franchises. The Rams work because of the Les Snead/Sean McVay partnership. The Nuggets were built around Nikola Jokic. Arsenal has invested heavily in manager Mikel Arteta’s vision. The Avalanche have been one of the NHL’s best hockey teams since 2021, won the Presidents’ Trophy last season and handed Cale Makar the biggest contract in league history this offseason. He has consistently put the right decision makers in place and let them go to work. 

Now, Kroenke isn’t perfect. He’s still reviled by fans in St. Louis after the Missouri native moved the Rams away from his home state in 2016 to chase more money in California. But it’s hard to argue with the results.

A lack of spending hasn’t been a problem for the Angels. Moreno spent big on stars like Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and others. Money wasn’t the issue; failing to invest it wisely was. The team hasn’t had a complete roster in more than a decade and has leaned on splashy additions rather than building a strong, stable organization. Kroenke’s job will be to reverse that trend.

The Angels are the ultimate reclamation project for an owner like Kroenke. They haven’t reached the postseason since 2014 and haven’t even had a winning record since ’15. There has been a revolving door of players, managers and front office regimes. Trout has been the only constant, and the franchise has utterly failed to build a contender around him despite also having Shohei Ohtani on their roster for six years before he signed with the Dodgers. 

Kroenke’s newest team will be the biggest test of his sports empire’s power. The Angels are the second team in the L.A. market, ranking behind the Dodgers in history, payroll, fan support, attendance and competitiveness. The team’s lone World Series win in 2002 might as well have come a century ago, given how far it has fallen. Kroenke won’t just be attempting to revive a dormant franchise; he’ll be doing it in the shadow of a Dodgers organization that has spent the last few years bulldozing the rest of Major League Baseball. His predecessor proved time and time again that he wasn’t up to the task.

At long last, Kronke’s sports empire may finally be complete. Now comes the challenge of turning its newest addition into something that resembles the rest.

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