There are owners who change the history of a football club, just as much as players or coaches. Just think of the Moratti and Berlusconi families for Inter and Milan, the Percassi for Atalanta, the Agnelli for Juventus and the Sensi for Roma, just staying with the Italy of the Nineties and the Two-thousands. There, in an era in which world football is taking the road of investment funds, state-owned (see the Saudi PIF for Newcastle) and not (see Liverpool, Everton, Hertha Berlin, Standard Liège, Vasco da Gama, but Inter and Milan themselves), thinking that there is a family of entrepreneurs that can build a part of its own fortune on sporting investments feels a bit strange. And yet, for the Kroenkes, the Americans who own Arsenal, it is precisely so.
The Premier League won during the week, in fact, is only the latest great victory of a family that seems kissed by fortune. As The Athletic recounts, in fact, the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment group adds another prestigious trophy to its own collection, confirming itself as one of the most winning sporting realities on the world scene. The holding company led by the billionaire Stan Kroenke and his son Josh Kroenke has built a true sporting empire: the Los Angeles Rams have conquered the Super Bowl, the Colorado Avalanche raised the Stanley Cup in 2022 and the Denver Nuggets hit the first NBA title of their history in 2023. So everything in the last five years.
Now the English triumph has also arrived. Led by Mikel Arteta, Arsenal has conquered the national title for the first time after 22 years, resisting the final comeback of Manchester City. A success that takes on even more value if one considers how difficult it is, even for economically very solid owners, to build winning continuity in different sporting disciplines. KSE, instead, has managed to establish itself simultaneously among the NFL, NBA, NHL and Premier League.
By now only the Champions League is missing from the roll call. And the dream could become reality very soon: Arsenal will in fact have the chance to conquer the trophy in the final against Paris Saint-Germain scheduled in Budapest on Saturday 30 May. The current scenario appears very distant from the climate that accompanied the takeover of the club by the Kroenkes in 2018. At the time, the total acquisition of Arsenal, made possible after the purchase of the shares of the magnate Alisher Usmanov, had provoked strong protests among the fans who usually frequent the Emirates Stadium. The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust had defined that operation «a terrible day for the club».
The protests increased further in 2021, when Arsenal joined the failed Super League project, unleashing new protests against the American ownership. In recent years, however, the relationship between the fanbase and the management seems to have progressively rebuilt itself. Josh Kroenke has become a more visible presence alongside the team, while Stan, nicknamed “Silent Stan” for his extremely reserved style, continues to keep the last word on the most important strategic decisions, including those relating to the transfer market. According to several former directors of the club, one of the Kroenkes’ strong points is said to be the capacity to rely on the chosen professionals, granting autonomy and support without excessive interference in the daily management.
The same organisational model has been applied to the group’s other franchises too. At the Rams, for example, the ownership leaves ample operating space to general manager Les Snead and to Head Coach Sean McVay. More direct, instead, was the involvement of Josh Kroenke in the Nuggets during the 2024-25 season, after the departure of coach Michael Malone and of general manager Calvin Booth. In parallel with the sporting successes, KSE continues to invest on the real estate and infrastructure front too. The group in fact owns a vast patrimony that includes ranches in the United States, the Emirates Stadium in London and above all the futuristic SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams and among the most modern facilities in the world. The stadium has already hosted the Super Bowl of 2022 and will once again be the venue for the event in 2027, as well as the Olympic ceremonies of the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The Emirates Stadium too could soon be the object of an important renovation plan. Although it remains one of the symbol-facilities of European football, the London structure, inaugurated in 2006, is starting to show the signs of time, especially in comparison with the very modern Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – which, not by chance obviously, hosts Arsenal’s great rivals in the North of London. According to rumours close to the club, KSE is said to be evaluating interventions to increase the capacity, modernise the digital experience and expand the extra-footballing revenue. The objective is clear: to transform Arsenal not only into a winning team, but into a sustainable and dominant sporting power over the long period too. And with the Champions League within reach, the Kroenkes’ empire could be close to completing its own extraordinary collection of successes.