{"id":794276,"date":"2026-09-01T21:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/794276\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T21:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:39:14","slug":"stan-kroenke-buys-angels-ending-arte-morenos-troubled-tenure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/794276\/","title":{"rendered":"Stan Kroenke buys Angels, ending Arte Moreno’s troubled tenure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rams<\/a> owner Stan Kroenke<\/a> has agreed to buy the Angels<\/a>, adding Major League Baseball to a portfolio that spans six leagues and two continents.<\/p>\n

It also marks the end of Arte Moreno\u2019s turbulent ownership of the Angels, with news of the transaction triggering shock followed by celebration among beleaguered Angels fans whose team owns pro baseball\u2019s longest playoff drought.<\/p>\n

The deal runs through Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Kroenke\u2019s holding company, which also owns the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and Arsenal of the Premier League.<\/p>\n

The price of the purchase was not announced, but a person with knowledge of the deal not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times the team is being sold for an MLB-record $4 billion valuation. It exceeds the $3.9 billion sale of the San Diego Padres. <\/p>\n

Forbes had valued the Angels at $2.8 billion in March. The sale is subject to regulatory review and Major League Baseball approval, with the expectation it will close in the first quarter of 2027.<\/p>\n

Companies tied to Kroenke also own the Rams and built SoFi Stadium and the 300-acre Hollywood Park development around it in Inglewood, a project that has grown into a sports and entertainment hub for Los Angeles County and is set to host events during the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics.<\/p>\n

The Angels deal pushes that footprint south, into Orange County\u2019s market of more than 3 million people, with its own economy, corporate base and tourism draw apart from Los Angeles proper. Pairing the two teams gives KSE a year-round presence on the Southern California sports calendar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,\u201d Kroenke said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kroenke, 79, has shown interest in buying a Southern California baseball team before. More than a decade ago, he was a backup bidder when the Dodgers were sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Angels organization is pleased to announce this transaction with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment,\u201d departing Angels owner Arte Moreno said in a statement. \u201cThe Moreno Family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years and we believe with KSE\u2019s experience and success they are the best next owner for the franchise. The Angels Organization looks forward to continuing its commitment to the fans, our employees, the players and our business partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno, 80, was Major League Baseball\u2019s first Latino owner and a longtime champion of keeping baseball affordable for fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His ownership of the Angels, which began on the heels of the franchise\u2019s only World Series championship in 2002, started with the most successful decade in club history, one that featured five American League West titles and two AL Championship Series appearances from 2004-2009.<\/p>\n

But that was followed by a dreadful decade in which the team \u2014 despite employing a pair of generational talents in two-way star Shohei Ohtani<\/a> and three-time AL most valuable player Mike Trout<\/a> \u2014 failed to win a playoff game and endured losing seasons from 2016 to 2026.<\/p>\n

Moreno announced in August 2022 that he would explore the process of selling the franchise<\/a>, only to pull the plug on any potential deal five months later, when he announced he would retain ownership of a team.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Moreno granted an interview to Sports Illustrated, in which he explained his decision to put the Angels up for sale, then take them off the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to stay,\u201d Moreno said<\/a> he told his wife, \u201cI have to make a decision that we have to do better. We\u2019re just not doing well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024 and 2025, the Angels finished in last place, extending baseball\u2019s longest playoff drought<\/a> to 11 seasons. In 2026, they\u2019re in last place again and fans have chanted during games for months, calling on Moreno to sell the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not doing much for us fans,\u201d lifelong Angels fan Johnny Gonzalez told The Times<\/a> in June after organizing a protest at the stadium. \u201cIt seems like every other team is just doing a lot more than us, despite us having a huge following [and] having some of the best players to ever play the game. I mean, it\u2019s just like a lack of commitment, to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno told the Orange County Register in February that<\/a>, according to Angels survey results, winning was not a top-five priority for fans and that data showed they valued affordability, safety and a \u201cgood experience\u201d first.<\/p>\n

Outrage over the remarks has grown as the Angels struggled to string together wins. Fans joined the \u201ctarps off\u201d movement spreading through Major League Baseball, flocking to a section of the stadium to take off their shirts, wave them in the air and chant \u201csell the team\u201d during games.<\/p>\n

Moreno made a major change that has already improved the trajectory of the franchise, firing general manager Perry Minasian on June 26 and naming longtime baseball executive John Mozeliak <\/a>interim general manager.<\/p>\n

Mozeliak reoriented the team\u2019s draft selection priority<\/a> from \u201cclosest to the majors\u201d to \u201cbest available,\u201d traded one-third of the major league roster<\/a> to seed a barren minor league system, fired three coaches<\/a> and completed a restructuring of the front office<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But nothing is more likely to transform the Angels\u2019 fortunes than Kroenke buying the team, even with a lockout looming as players and owners are far apart on a new labor deal.<\/p>\n

Kroenke has proven he invests what is required to turn his teams into winners, first funding the Rams\u2019 relocation to Los Angeles<\/a> and later supporting the deals that brought the team a Super Bowl win on its home field in 2022. Now the Rams are chasing another home-field Super Bowl victory, loading up on talent and coaxing a future Hall of Famer out of retirement<\/a> to round out their roster. <\/p>\n

The Nuggets, Avalanche and Arsenal also have won championships during Kroenke\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n

The billionaire real estate developer whose wife is heiress to the Walmart fortune owns homes in Malibu, Denver and Columbia, Mo. While his work has shaped elite teams on two continents, the construction of SoFi Stadium and investment in Hollywood Park has forever changed Inglewood and suggests changes could be coming in and around Angel Stadium. During a three-year stretch, Kroenke\u2019s SoFi Stadium will host World Cup matches, a Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Angels transaction comes at a busy time in the Southern California sports ownership landscape. <\/p>\n

Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner agreed to purchase<\/a> the majority stake of the Lakers from Mark Walter for a record $12.5 billion valuation. <\/p>\n

Jeanie Buss is contesting her five siblings\u2019 effort<\/a> to sell their minority stake in the Lakers, a move that would effectively fire her as the team\u2019s governor. <\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s businesses are the subject of multiple investigations<\/a> and he\u2019s working to pay down debt carried by two Delaware insurance companies. While TWG Global and Dodgers president Stan Kasten have insisted<\/a> the team is not for sale, Walter has been open about selling his take in Chelsea and there are questions whether he may need to sell other teams to pay off loans. Walter\u2019s other local team is the WNBA\u2019s Sparks, which is building a new practice facility<\/a> in El Segundo but has missed the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rams owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to buy the Angels, adding Major League Baseball to a portfolio that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[291,95280,11478,5,15415,1296,94042,97376,343,1593,2012,97374,9837,97367,97375,235],"class_list":["post-794276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-angels","tag-angels-organization","tag-arte-moreno","tag-baseball","tag-company","tag-entertainment","tag-kroenke-sports","tag-kse","tag-league","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-market","tag-moreno-family","tag-ownership","tag-stan-kroenke","tag-storied-franchise","tag-team"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117197954327600636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}