Amid championship windows, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment may be more focused on real estate than raising banners — a mistake one Denver franchise has already made and may never recover from.
In April 2019, the Colorado Rockies announced their West Lot project would be called McGregor Square, and the ball really got rolling on its redevelopment. At the same time, the team was coming off two straight playoff appearances and was led by some of the very best players in club history. It’s around then, perhaps during the offseason before, that season, or a little later, that the Rockies transitioned from a baseball team with a nice park to having a great facility, which happened to host some baseball.
That perception is cemented now — Coors Field is a bar with sunshine and decently-priced drinks. A place to meet friends, sing songs and launch your night in LoDo. McGregor Square made that identity official. And while it started with the Rooftop in 2013, the Rockies’ reputation as a nightlife brand that occasionally plays baseball took full form when those construction cranes went up.
Now, KSE is charting a similar course.
The company is in the middle of two massive redevelopment projects that span over 117 acres near Ball Arena and along the South Platte River. On Thursday, they doubled down, announcing that they’ve bought out development partner Revesco Properties to take full control of what they call “The River Mile.” That includes the land surrounding the river, the site of Elitch Gardens, and, as of this week, the land where Meow Wolf is.
“Realizing sole ownership of these properties will allow us to streamline our comprehensive vision for the future development encompassing The River Mile and the adjacent Ball Arena campus,” said KSE owner Stan Kroenke in a news release.
They bought the land beneath Elitch Gardens back in 2015 and unveiled redevelopment plans shortly after. But there’s been little visible change — and now, some language in the latest press release hints those plans might be shifting. “Elitch Gardens … and Meow Wolf … will continue to operate at their current sites,” it reads.
Still, it’s clear KSE is pouring time and hundreds of millions into their 62-acre River Mile development — not to mention another 55 acres of Ball Arena parking lots slated to become a new neighborhood. These two projects are technically separate, but only on paper. Each Auraria neighborhood area is divided only by a train track, and the nearby light rail stops will likely be key for future residents.
It’s a transformative vision, one that could be a boon to the city — though it’s all happening while KSE’s sports franchises, the anchors of this empire, face real precarious offseasons.
The Denver Nuggets were ousted in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs for a second straight year. They replaced their winningest head coach ever in the middle of the season with an internal promotion that has since been made permanent. In the same swoop, they fired the leader of their basketball operations and have yet to replace the man just two weeks before the league’s draft.
Some have called it the most critical offseason in team history. Not a peep has come from Chopper Circle of the team’s plans and how they will build around superstar Nikola Jokic; instead, what we are hearing is the ownership group’s big land acquisitions and how they will build around the area where the three-time MVP packs.
Likewise, the Colorado Avalanche have not made the most of their championship window, led by an MVP and a multi-time best defender. They got one like the Nuggets, but there seem to be serious questions about their head coach, too, and those have gone unaddressed in any real way so far this summer. Their leader of hockey operations is proven and liked, but he was promoted into the role after the Avs won the Cup, and the man taking over the day-to-day has been a lightning rod for debate over quality.
Josh Kroenke, once a visible face of the franchises, has had a reduced presence in recent years, his focus pulled toward Arsenal and the Los Angeles Rams. He acknowledged mishandling of the feud between coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth — admitting he needed to be more involved. But how can anyone at the top be truly focused on basketball or hockey when they’re also trying to reinvent the Denver skyline while conquering global sport?
It’s hard not to see the parallels to the Rockies. That franchise claims it didn’t have to trade Nolan Arenado because of McGregor Square cost overruns or COVID-related shortfalls — but that’s always felt murky. And then they gave Kris Bryant nearly the same deal a year later, after the project was finished.
The Nuggets and Avalanche teeter today while their ownership group has teams across the globe and is building projects that would create an entirely new downtown for Denver.
In these plans, there is some semblance of care for competition — the idea that both teams will get a training facility that’s incorporated into the neighborhood. It’s something fans and players have been promised by KSE for a decade. It’s a key inhibitor for both teams as it hurts free agency while also decreasing skill development and team camaraderie. Still, the center has not been built, and there’s no sign of progress on it. The Nuggets are one of just a few NBA teams without a dedicated practice facility, and the Avalanche train feet from where children play laser tag.
If the first thing after breaking ground on these projects is not building a training center for both teams, we’ll know where KSE’s priorities lie, and frankly, we already do. And that’s an important warning for the family. There are plenty of wealthy people in Denver, but the Kroenkes are relevant rich guys to all of us because they have the exclusive right to own our community assets. We care about the Kroenkes because we care about our teams.
Yes, real estate is likely more profitable than the teams. But none of this — none of River Mile or a new Ball Arena district — happens without Jokic or Nathan MacKinnon. That’s the tradeoff. And fans should demand KSE invest in the players and the teams first — not just the developments around them.
It used to be cool to live near Coors Field. Now? Not so much. Maybe that’s the Monforts’ fault. Maybe it’s what happens when a team becomes a tourist trap. But that dynamic is what the Kroenkes risk recreating.
Denver’s next neighborhood is being built on the backs of its championship franchises. The Kroenkes may be more focused on real estate than rings — but fans don’t have to follow.
