Stan Kroenke

Personal life

Kroenke grew up in Mora, Missouri, an unincorporated community with a population of approximately two dozen, where his father owned Mora Lumber Company. His first job was sweeping the floor at his father's lumber yard. By age 10 he was keeping the company's books. In a September 2011 interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Kroenke said he was lucky — both as a youngster and later in life — to be surrounded by family and friends who saw the value of attaining a good education, which he said contributed to his success. At Cole Camp (Missouri) High School, he played baseball, basketball and ran track. He is of German descent and was raised Lutheran.

Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri.

On a ski trip to Aspen, Colorado, Kroenke met his future wife, Ann Walton, a Wal-Mart heiress. They married in 1974. Already wealthy from real estate, he accrued significant additional wealth when he and Ann inherited a stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. upon the 1995 death of her father, James Walton. As of September 2015, that stake is worth $4.8 billion.

Real estate

He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has built numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores.

He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1991. In 2016, THF’s portfolio was valued at more than $2 billion, including more than 100 projects totaling 20 million square feet, primarily in retail shopping centers.

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment

Kroenke is a well-known sports mogul. As the head and owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, he bought a stake in the National Football League's St. Louis Rams after their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the teams from Charlie Lyons's Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, he partnered with Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and former Bronco quarterback John Elway to become part-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004 when he purchased the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz.

In 2010, Kroenke exercised his right of first refusal to buy the remaining interest in the Rams from the estate of late owner Georgia Frontiere. On August 25, 2010, he became full owner of the Rams by unanimous consent of the NFL. To gain approval from NFL owners, Kroenke agreed to turn over control of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to his son, Josh, by the end of 2010, and he had to give up his majority stake in both teams in December 2014. The NFL does not allow its owners to hold majority control of major league teams in other NFL markets. On October 7, 2015, the NFL approved transfer of his ownership stake of the Avalanche and Nuggets to his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke.

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment also owns Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Nuggets and Avalanche, and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, home of the Rapids. Both venues were built by his development company. In 2004, Kroenke launched his own competitor to FSN Rocky Mountain (now known as AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain), Altitude, a new regional sports network which became the official broadcaster for both of Kroenke's teams on launch. Kroenke also established TicketHorse, a ticket company that provides in-house sales for all of his teams.

Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man. He is popularly known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press. He rarely interferes in his teams' day-to-day operations.

Kroenke is the largest shareholder of Premier League association football club Arsenal. Arsenal already had a technical link-up with Kroenke's Colorado Rapids when in April 2007 Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of ITV plc, had sold its 9.9% stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to Kroenke's KSE UK inc. Kroenke went on to buy further shares in the club, taking his total stake up to 12.19%. The club's board initially expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests, but gradually warmed to him as part of counteracting Alisher Usmanov's rival bid for the club.

By June 2008 the board had prepared to let Kroenke take over the club, and on September 19, 2008, it was officially announced that Kroenke had joined the Arsenal board of directors. Kroenke had a beneficial interest in, and controlled voting rights, over 18,594 shares, representing 29.9% of the issued shares. Thus, he was nearing the maximum 29.99% threshold, beyond which he would be forced to make an offer for all remaining shares.

On April 10, 2011, it was reported that Kroenke was in advanced talks to complete the takeover of Arsenal. The following day, it was announced that he increased his shareholding in Arsenal to 62.89% by purchasing the stakes of Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, and agreed to make an offer for the rest of the club at £11,750 per share, valuing the club at £731M.

St. Louis Rams relocation to Los Angeles

On April 13, 1995, Stan Kroenke helped Georgia Frontiere move the Los Angeles Rams from Anaheim to St. Louis by purchasing a 30% share of the team.

In April 2010, as he was trying to gain full ownership of the team, and knowing of an escape clause in the Rams lease at the Edward Jones Dome, Stan Kroenke said: "I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. "

In February 2013, the Rams and the City of St. Louis went to arbitration over a clause in the Rams lease that stated the Rams current stadium must be in the top tier of NFL Stadiums. The arbitrators agreed with the Rams, giving the Rams the ability to break their original lease and go to a year to year lease agreement.

Showing that he was willing to work with Missouri officials and to give the governor a "complete understanding" of the stadium situation, on November 30, 2015, Stan Kroenke met with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon at Rams Park in Earth City, Missouri.

On January 5, 2015, it was announced that the Kroenke Group was teaming up with Stockbridge Capital Group to build a 70,000 seat NFL stadium and venue in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, threatening the Rams' future in St. Louis. In response, St. Louis countered with National Car Rental Field, a proposed open-air stadium in the north riverfront in downtown St. Louis with the hope of the Rams staying in St. Louis. At the NFL relocation presentation that St. Louis was no longer a viable market for the NFL and was best served with only two teams. Kroenke also questioned the financial future of the team. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also stated that St. Louis funding did not meet the criteria set by the NFL. St. Louis officials countered that Kroneke was misrepresenting the city and defended that St. Louis was being misrepresented at the owners’ meeting.

The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers are also unhappy with old stadiums (O.co Coliseum in Oakland and Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego respectively) lacking updated amenities and were proposing a stadium in Carson, California, another suburb of Los Angeles, in competition with Kroenke's Inglewood proposal. As of 2017, the Chargers have announced they will be moving to Los Angeles for the 2017 season. Playing games initially in Carson and then will move into Kroenke's Inglewood Stadium. The Raiders have announced a move to Las Vegas, Nevada.

On January 4, 2016, all three teams applied for relocation to Los Angeles for the 2016 NFL season. The following day, the Rams and Stan Kroenke released their proposal for relocation. Some of the Rams' conclusions were disputed by the Mayor of St. Louis Francis Slay (in a letter to Roger Goodell), the St. Louis Regional Chamber, and Forbes. However, some say that staying in St. Louis was ultimately a bad deal for the city and the city is better off with them leaving.

On January 12, 2016, the NFL approved the Rams' application to relocate from St. Louis back to Los Angeles with a 30-2 vote and Kroenke was praised by other NFL owners afterwards. On April 12th, 2017 it was reported that the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority filed a 52-page lawsuit against the NFL and all 32 NFL clubs as defendants (including Stan Kroenke) and seeks damages and restitution of profits. On July 12, 2017, the Los Angeles Rams filed three motions seek to: dismiss the case for failure to state a claim, dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction, and appeal to have the case determined through arbitration rather than in front of a St. Louis based jury. The motions in the case will be decided upon by Judge Christopher McGraugh.

Other businesses

In 2006, Kroenke, in partnership with the money manager Charles Banks, acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle. (In April 2009, Banks said he was no longer involved with Screaming Eagle.)

Kroenke is a major owner of working ranches, owning a total of 848,631 acres. The Land Report magazine ranked him as the United States' ninth-largest landowner in 2015. Among notable purchases is his February 2016 acquisition of the famous Waggoner Ranch in Texas, the largest ranch within one fenceline.

Bloodsports channel controversy

In August of 2017, he came under fire for launching a new bloodsports television channel that was unveiled in the United Kingdom and will show regular hunting programmes that includes killing elephants, lions and other vulnerable African species.