Stan Kroenke, Los Angeles Rams
LOS ANGELES RAMS | STAN KROENKE | CHAIRMAN, OWNER | AGE: 70
Education: University of Missouri
How They Acquired the Franchise: Enos Stanley Kroenke came on as a minority owner of the Rams when they moved to St. Louis in 1995. In 2010, he purchased the majority share of the team from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, paying $450 million on a $750 million franchise valuation.
In ‘16, Kroenke won approval from the NFL to move the Rams from St. Louis to L.A., a move which reportedly doubled the franchise valuation.
Net Worth: $8.3 billion (per Forbes in 2018)
Franchise Valuation: $3 billion (per Forbes in 2017)
How They Made Their Money: Kroenke is a real estate mogul with substantial commercial holdings. In addition to the Rams, he also has interests in the Colorado Rapids (MLS) and Colorado Mammoth (MLL)—he had to cede his ownership stake in the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche in order to buy a majority stake in the Rams—as well as a stake in Arsenal Holdings, the publicly traded operator of the Arsenal football club.
In the Owner’s Words: “When you look at where we are focused as a league,” Kroenke said in 2016, “Rams are playing the Giants in London this season, Arsenal is playing over here and the NBA is playing games in London. The upshot is that sports is so global … and that’s where I think people are focusing for growth. Los Angeles is so important to NFL—some people call it gateway to South America and Asia.”
Political Donations: Kroenke has been generous to both sides of the aisle. In 2016 and early ’17, he donated $100K to the Hillary Victory Fund (a joint fundraising committee benefitting the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and 33 state Democratic committees) and $1M to the Trump inauguration.
NFL Committees: Media Committee, NFL Network Committee.
Next in Line: Kroenke’s son, Josh, is already the president of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, and is widely seen as the heir to Stan’s sports empire.
