Arsenal fans are up in arms these days as another disappointing season ends without a trophy. But if you a fan of any other side that Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke owns, not winning anything is a commin feeling.
I took a look at the other teams that Stan Kroenke’ owns and the picture is not a good one for Arsenal fans who are hoping that the Gunners get back to challenging for trophies anytime soon
Besides owing Arsenal, Kroenke owns five US sports franchises: the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and St. Louis Rams of the NFL (he also owns the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League but they are not relevant to this article).
None of the U.S. teams that Kroenke owns are leaders with within their sports. Instead they are all mediocre at best.
In 2000, Kroenke bought the National Basketball Association’s Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche. Since then, neither club has been a major contender in either of their sports.
Since 2001, the Denver Nuggets have reached the conference finals once and have lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs 8 times in the 11 seasons that Kroenke have owned the team.
The Denver Avalanche has been just as inept as the Nuggets. They lost in the Stanley Cup Conference Finals in 2001-02, and it has been all downhill since then, as they have not made the playoffs in four of the last six seasons.
The one success on the field has been the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer as they delivered Kroenke’s one Championship in 2010. But even then, in Kroenke’s seven year of ownership, the Rapids have not qualified for the MLS Playoffs three times in his seven years of ownerships.
Lastly, Kroenke become majority owner of the St. Louis Rams in August 2010 and their record the last two seasons have been 2-14 and 7-8. On paper a good improvement, but nobody is expecting the Rams to be playing in the Super Bowl anytime soon.
So if you add up Kroenke’s American teams records since he bought them, in a combined 31 seasons of ownership, his teams have won one championship and reached the conference finals twice. That is it.
In American sports with salary cap restrictions and revenue sharing, where it is common to see a team go from a losing record to winning a title within 12 months, the records of Silent Stan’s teams is amazing poor.
Which brings me to Arsenal. There is nothing in Kroenke’s US sports ownership that suggests that he is willing to spend money to compete like Man City, Chelsea or PSG are.
There is actually nothing to suggest that he is willing to spend like Liverpool’s Fenway Sports Group in order to compete.
His US teams are middle of the table, with few stars and a payroll that is in the middle of the pack.
And is that where Arsenal seems to be heading?
I wrote early about newspaper reports suggest that Arsene Wenger will be given a £150m transfer budget this summer. I hope they are right. But there is nothing in Kroenke’s decade plus ownership of US sports teams that suggests that he will be willing to spend that kind of money on players.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Seriously… you just figured this out?
No. I knew that, but wanted to bring it back to the forefront with all the talk about firing Wenger. If the board stays the same and Kroenke is in charge I don’t see how changing the manager will make a difference.
Agreed… no offense meant, just disgusted as I have been arguing this point from when Kroenke began to increase his stake in the club. The business model is all about $$$, not silver (trophy’s).
If the fans continue to support the club monetarily, we are doomed to mediocrity.
Catch-22 support = doomed, don’t support = doomed
The financial model was in existence prior to Kroenke and the current board. QPR and Liverpool have both shown that the correlation between spending, ownership, and success is tangential at best. Malcolm Glazer has tremenous success with ManU and absolutely no recent success with their American football team. John Henry’s Boston Red Sox have won two World Series yet Liverpool can’t even qualify for UCL.
Perhaps this blog can do a ‘report’ on the greed of the former share owners who allowed a single individual to control club ownership.
If only I have a lot of money, I will buy all Kroenke shares and kick his yankee ass back to US, along with all the other board members.
People have complained about the influx of foreign money in EPL – Chelsea, ManU, Man City, QPR, Liverpool – and the spend at all costs mentality of these clubs. People have complained about the influx of money in La Liga – Barca, Real Madrid, Malaga – and the spend at all costs mentality of these clubs. People boast and feel a sense of pride that Arsenal continues to follow a business model that has been in place for quite some time yet bemoan the fact that their majority owner doesn’t spend at all costs. Sigh.
The whole Arsenal structure has been built by Wenger. Owners have very little to do with how Arsenal is being run. Wenger is in charge and he is trying to compete from within the club. Using Arsenals own resources as much as possible. This way we stay competitive and bouyant. It is not easy to win the Premier even if dump millions into your team ( see Man City). They are falling behind Manu with a huge money being spent. And last year they were very very lucky to win. Wenger is helping Arsenal to be run the right way. Which means we will not win every season. It is very easy to back your team when they are winning but apparently for some they only support a winning team.
Well stated.
Leeds………….Portsmouth……….QPR will probably be next