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What does Stan Kroenke have planned for Arsenal?
The quiet American could sell his stake in the St Louis Rams and make a move for the Gunners
As fans of Liverpool and Manchester United rail against their clubs' American owners and the financial humiliations they have heaped upon them, another of the Premier League's big four, Arsenal, wait to see if it will be next to fall under American control.
Arsenal is one of the few big clubs left in England not to have come under foreign control, but billionaire Stan Kroenke is just 17 shares away from owning a 30 per cent stake in the club and triggering a clause that would force him to launch a takeover.
The quiet American, who owns several other sports franchises in his homeland, spent around £50m on Arsenal shares last year. His last purchase came in December and left him on the brink of taking control of the cub. Now the talk in America is that Kroenke is about to cash in on one of his other sporting investments, American football side the St Louis Rams, which would free up some of the capital he needs to buy out the Gunners.
Kroenke owns 40 per cent of the Rams and after a dismal season in the NFL the majority shareholders are considering bids for the franchise. At least one of the offers on the table is for a 100 per cent takeover which would see Kroenke giving up his shares as well. That could land him $320m, money that could go towards a buyout at the Emirates.
Arsenal is thought to be worth around £750m, but Kroenke would have no trouble in raising the extra money he needs for a takeover. Not only is he worth an estimated $2.7bn his wife, Ann, is an heiress of the Wal-Mart family and is said to be even richer, with a fortune of almost $3bn.
Establishing Kroenke's intentions is almost impossible as he rarely if ever talks to the press, but he already owns NBA side the Denver Nuggets, ice hockey team the Colorado Avalanche and another football team in the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer.
Kroenke had hoped to make it as a basketball player but was forced to abandon the idea after a bout of infectious hepatitis. When he realised he could not play sport he decided to run it. "I always thought I'd enjoy it because the professional sports business is part business and part sports, and I love both of them," he once told The Columbia Daily Tribune in a rare interview.
Taking over Arsenal would give him control of one of the biggest names in world sport and one that has so far resisted the urge to market itself as aggressively as Manchester United and Chelsea outside Europe.
The New York Times says that Kroenke's interest in football - or soccer to Americans - was inspired by fellow billionaire Phil Anschutz, the former owner of the Rapids, who sold the club to Kroenke in 2003.
The paper notes that Kroenke's business model with the Rapids, the Nuggets and the Avalanche has been to own not just the team but also the stadium, the team's broadcaster and ticketing operation. Arsenal owns the Emirates stadium and the club's financing of the building has been widely praised - although there is still a debt of almost £300m. The club's television station, Arsenal TV, closed down in August last year.
It appears that Kroenke would be an owner more in the mould of fellow American Randy Lerner at Aston Villa rather than either the Glazers of Manchester United or Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool. "Though some Arsenal fans worry a new owner will saddle the club with debt and curb the signing of players, that has not been Mr Kroenke's style," says the New York Times.
Kroenke made his fortune from shopping centres before branching out into sports franchises. The New York Times describes him as "a man without anecdotes" and quotes NBA commissioner David Stern who says he is "as knowledgeable a person as there is" and someone who is "willing to do old things in a new way."
The Arsenal hierarchy appear to prefer Kroenke to rival suitor, Uzbek industrialist Alisher Usmanov. Board members have sold Kroenke shares and Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has reversed his original position of stating he did not want "his sort" at the club. Indeed Kroenke found himself on the top table at Arsenal’s AGM last year, sitting next to the club's chief executive Ivan Gazidis,
If Kroenke does make a move for Arsenal then it seems that the Gunners' new owner will be a very different proposition to the likes of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, Sheikh Mansour of Manchester City, the Glazer family and Tom Hicks and George Gillett. ·
