Ice hockey gave Stan Croenke a unique title among sports franchise owners. The team of the NHL, Colorado Avalanche is champion of the stanley cupmarking the second league crown for the Arsenal owner in less than six months.
The Avalanche, which has been owned by Kroenke since 2000, beat Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals series for his third championship. The Lightning were looking to become the first team since 1983 to win three straight Stanley Cups, but they never recovered after losing the first two games of the series and were unable to make the most of home-field advantage at Florida’s Amalie Arena to force a decider in game seven. The win comes after the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl in February, beating the Cincinnati Bengals in a game played at their new SoFi stadium. Both teams have won their respective championships before: the Rams in 2000 when he was a co-owner in St. Louis and the Avalanche in 2001, shortly after he bought the franchise, but never in the same year.
Both the Rams and the stadium, which was confirmed last week as the site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, are owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
Kroenke’s sports empire is second to none as he also owns the Colorado Rapids MLS franchise. With Arsenal he became a shareholder in May 2007 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in September 2008, making him the majority owner of the Premier League club since April 2011. In Denver, he owns the Avalanche, the Nuggets and the recently renamed Ball Arena, where both teams play. In Los Angeles, he owns the Rams and SoFi Stadium, which cost $5 billion to build, including the retail and housing complexes that still grow around it.
“You can’t be below Los Angeles. Not just build a great NFL stadium, but one that really fits in with the architectural design of Los Angeles,” said Kevin Demoff, the club’s longtime COO.
The top three US-based professional franchises alone are worth $7.33 billion: rams with 4,680 million, the Nuggets with 1,870 million and avalanche with 775 million, according to Sportico’s franchise valuations.
In addition to that, you have to consider his sports participations. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment is the holding company for European football clubs. Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League and Arsenal W.F.C. of the Women’s Super League, among others, including the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, which won the MLS Cup in 2010. Kroenke is worth $10.7 billion personally, and his overall sports franchise holdings are valued at $10.5 billion.
Kroenke’s decision to move the Rams back to Los Angeles from St. Louis ultimately paid off for him, but it was costly. He paid a $550 million transfer fee to the NFL, and late last year, Kroenke and the league agreed to a $790 million deal with St. Louis for vacating that city. The move turned out great for the Rams, who were valued at $1.45 billion in 2014, their last season in St. Louis. Kroenke bought what was then called the Pepsi Center in Denver, which opened in 1999 at a cost of $187 million, $316 million in today’s dollars. In Los Angeles, he had this vision of a new stadium, which is just east of the airport, LAX.
“It has to be iconic. And when people fly, this has to be the first thing people know and love about our city,” said Demoff.