Sports teams In 1995, KSE bought a stake in the
National Football League's
St. Louis Rams and Stan Kroenke became the team's vice-chairman. In 2000, KSE 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'
Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, KSE partnered with Denver Broncos owner
Pat Bowlen and former Bronco quarterback
John Elway to become part-owners of the
Arena Football League's
Colorado Crush. KSE continued to acquire sports teams purchasing the
National Lacrosse League's
Colorado Mammoth in 2002 and
Major League Soccer's
Colorado Rapids from
Phil Anschutz in 2003. From 2002 to 2006, KSE owned the
Grand Prix of Denver. In 2010, KSE exercised its
right of first refusal to buy the remaining interest in the Rams from the estate of the late-owner
Georgia Frontiere. On August 25, 2010, KSE became full owner of the Rams by unanimous consent of the NFL. In order to gain the approval of the NFL owners, KSE, with Stan Kroenke listed as the owner, agreed to turn over control of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to Josh Kroenke by the end of 2010, and Stan Kroenke also to give up his personal majority stakes 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, one of the Waltons,
Walmart heirs. KSE is the owner shareholder of
soccer club Arsenal. In April 2007, Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of
ITV plc, had sold its 9.9% stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to KSE. KSE went on to buy further shares in the club, taking the total stake to 12.19%. The club's board initially expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests, By June 2008, the board had prepared to facilitate KSE take over the club, and on September 19, 2008, it was officially announced that Stan Kroenke had joined the Arsenal board of directors. KSE 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 a compulsory offer for all remaining shares must be made. On April 10, 2011, it was reported that KSE was in advanced talks to complete the takeover of Arsenal. The next day, it was announced that KSE increased its shares 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. In August 2018, KSE completed the purchase of Arsenal Holdings after buying the remaining shares held by
Alisher Usmanov. This took KSE's shareholding above 90% which necessitated de-listing the club from stock exchanges and initiating compulsory purchase of all remaining shares in the club. Upon completion of the compulsory purchase KSE owned the
Premier League and
FA Women's Super League teams and associated real estate, including the
Emirates Stadium.
Esports In late 2017, KSE developed an esports team franchise in the newly founded
Overwatch League, named the
Los Angeles Gladiators, that began their inaugural season later that year on December 6. In August 2019,
Activision Blizzard announced that KSE had bought a franchise slot in the upcoming
Call of Duty League (a franchise league). Like the company's Overwatch League franchise, the franchise was based in
Los Angeles and known as the
Los Angeles Guerrillas. In November 2021, KSE rebranded their esports division as "The Guard", fielding a roster in the
first-person shooter game,
VALORANT. On February 22, 2023, "The Guard" laid off all employees in their content, social, talent, and creative teams. On August 29, 2023, "The Guard" parted ways with their Valorant team, marking their exit from competitive Valorant esports. The Los Angeles Gladiators later folded after the end of the
2023 Overwatch League season, along with the league itself. In September 2024, the Los Angeles Guerrillas were sold to French esports organization Gentle Mates, with the announcement of the sale made on December 4 prior to the start of the 2025 Call of Duty League season.
Real estate Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns
Ball Arena in downtown 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 2002, Kroenke bought the historic
Paramount Theatre in Denver. He established TicketHorse, a ticket company which provides in-house sales. Operations of
1stBank Center in
Broomfield, Colorado, were taken over by Peak Entertainment—a joint venture between KSE and
AEG Live Rocky Mountain, in June 2009, for 28 years. As part of moving the Rams back to Los Angeles, Kroenke spearheaded the construction of a new billion dollar NFL stadium in
Inglewood, California called
SoFi Stadium. The stadium is a component of
Hollywood Park, a mixed-use commercial and residential development project on the site of the former
Hollywood Park Racetrack. On January 5, 2015, it was announced that Kroenke, the owner of the
St. Louis Rams (now Los Angeles Rams) had partnered with
Stockbridge Capital Group (owners of the Hollywood Park Land Company), to build an NFL stadium and complex on the existing Hollywood Park development and on a parcel of land owned by Kroenke. The stadium itself is owned and operated by KSE subsidiary StadCo LA, LLC. in partnership with the
Los Angeles Chargers owners and opened in 2020 as the home to the Rams and the Chargers. As part of his ownership of Arsenal, Kroenke has control over the team's stadium
Emirates Stadium in
Holloway, London.
Media 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. On January 10, 2011,
World Fishing Network announced that it had sold a 50% stake in its U.S. operations to KSE under the Altitude Sports and Entertainment brand. Also, in 2011, Altitude Sports and Entertainment purchased a 19.9% interest in the
Canadian channel through its division Altitude WFN ULC. Altitude would later purchase the remaining 50% interest in the channel it did not already own. In 2013,
Outdoor Channel was acquired by KSE. As part of the acquisition of Outdoor Channel's parent company by KSE it also acquired
MyOutdoorTV.com, Cablecam and
Skycam which Outdoor Channel Holdings Inc. acquired in 2011 and 2009 respectively. In 2014, KSE acquired InterMedia Outdoor Holdings from
InterMedia Partners which included
Sportsman Channel, 15 market leading outdoor magazines, and 17 top websites, as well as television production operations. The company was later renamed
Outdoor Sportsman Group. On October 12, 2015, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, announced they would acquire Wilks Broadcasting's Denver properties, including
KXKL-FM, Country
KWOF, and Adult Top 40
KIMN. Once the sale was approved by the FCC, KSE was expected to flip one of the three outlets to Sports and the
Denver Nuggets,
Colorado Avalanche, and
Colorado Rapids would then move from their radio home in Denver, which was
KKFN. The transaction was consummated on December 31, 2015, at a purchase price of $54 million. On December 17, 2015,
Entercom announced that it would sell KRWZ to KSE Radio Ventures (a division of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment), who would add the station to its three recently acquired FM properties in the Denver market. KSE also announced that KRWZ would flip to a new format when the sale closed, as Entercom moved the Oldies format to
KEZW on December 27. On the same day, KRWZ began stunting with mostly
adult standards music, as well as redirecting listeners to KEZW. After the change of ownership, KRWZ would adopt the new
KKSE call letters. Furthermore, KSE announced that the station would return to sports talk and become "Altitude Sports 950" (named after KSE's Altitude cable channel). That was followed by the flipping of country formatted KWOF to sports
KKSE-FM. ==See also==