Stan Kroenke had four little words for Carrie Walton Penner and Greg Penner last week: Hold my Rooftop beer.
The Los Angeles Angels, mind you, cost Uncle Stan quite a bit more than three bucks during BP.
It took a few decades, but a man named for two Major League Baseball players is about to join the ranks of MLB ownership. Enos (as in Enos Slaughter) Stanley (as in Stan Musial) Kroenke, according to reports, has reached an agreement to buy the Halos from previous owner Arte Moreno, effective in early 2027.
Assuming the deal goes through, that puts Stan a leg up at the next family BBQ on the baseball front, at least. The Penner Sports Group — which is overseen by Walton-Penner and her husband Greg and, like Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, is part of the Walmart financial empire — has owned the Broncos since August 2022 and purchased a 40% stake in the Rockies this past April. Penner said last month that they had no plans to extend that investment, and that control of the flailing baseball franchise will remain with the club’s majority owners, the Monfort family.
Yeah, that last one didn’t sit well with the baseball sickos on the Grading The Week staff, either. Especially after longtime season-ticket holders we know texted us to grouse about receiving notice from the club of a 14% price hike for next season, all while a potentially nuclear work stoppage looms in early 2027.
The Monforts are the Dodgers of leveraging real estate and selling alcohol. Unfortunately, the Rox also play in the same division as the real Dodgers and are therefore trying to avoid becoming the first MLB club since the Mets in 1965 to string together four straight seasons with 100 or more losses.
Kroenke buys Angels, Rox still stink — D
In a perfect world, KSE would’ve bought the Rockies from the Monforts ages ago. The games would fill up those dry summer months of programming on Altitude TV and spice up the evening hours on Altitude Sports Radio. Nikola Jokic would be rocking the owner’s box at Coors Field, a world-class player at a world-class venue,
While KSE’s stewardship of the Nuggets and Avs has at times been mercurial, it’s also been fairly successful from a standings perspective. And given the concurrent sagas of Peyton Watson, whom the Nuggets just traded to Cleveland rather than extend; and Cale Makar, who just landed the largest contract in NHL history, it’ll be fascinating to see how KSE handles payroll in a non-salary-capped sport. (Well, non-capped for now, boys and girls.)
Uncle Stan had reportedly bid for the Dodgers before, and like 99.99% of big-time North American sports franchise purchases, this one feels more like a land grab on Kroenke’s part than some burning desire to become the next Gene Autry. KSE’s SoFi Stadium, home to the Rams and landlords to the Chargers, is the centerpiece of the Hollywood Park entertainment district in Inglewood, Calif.
Magic Johnson, a minority owner of the Dodgers, welcomed Stan into the MLB ownership club via X.com, then thanked him for letting the NBA icon “rent their beautiful yacht named Aquila for 7 years!”
Those Walmart braggin’ rights are in Stan’s court, given that KSE’s got a tentacle in every major North American sports circuit, with the MLB arm (Angels) joining the NFL (Rams), NBA (Nuggets), NHL (Avalanche), and MLS (Rapids).
And given the global reach of the Arsenal brand, only the oceans cover more of planet Earth than the Kroenkes do at the moment.
On the baseball side, wish Stan luck. The Angels are — were? — one of the few MLB ownership situations that might have a more contentious vibe with its fan base than the Rockies do with Denverites. The Halos are on their sixth manager in eight years. The Angels even had their very own Kris Bryant situation in third baseman Anthony Rendon. The former All-Star landed a seven-year, $246-million contract with the Halos after helping Washington win a World Series in 2019 — then promptly fell apart. The infielder, now 36 years old, has spent this season away from the club, yet hasn’t formally retired.
Rendon’s agent? Scott Boras. Yep — the same guy who represents KB23. Small world, isn’t it? If nothing else, the GTW sickos are looking forward to watching Mike Trout run around in a Jokic jersey or a Nathan MacKinnon sweater soon.
