“We must get them by all means”: Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke approves Arteta’s request to sign TWO MAJOR target for £300b, vows to get them by all means
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has been involved in approving a £1billion deal that will see a major US sports team complete a stadium renovation.
As the head of the Los Angeles Rams, the 77-year-old was one the 32 NFL owners to unanimously approve a $1.4billion (£1.07bn) renovation of EverBank Stadium, the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kroenke – who ranks 115th on the 2024 Forbes Rich List – had overseen the construction of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which cost just under $6bn (£4.6m) and took almost four years to build before opening in 2020. It will host the 2027 Super Bowl, having done so in 2022.
This week, Kroenke joined his fellow owners in approving the EverBank Stadium renovation plans, which will begin early next year. The Jaguars will play one of their home games at Wembley this season, against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Kroenke owns a vast sports portfolio under Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which includes NBA giants Denver Nuggets, NHL franchise Colorado Avalanche and Major League Soccer outfit Colorado Rapids. In all, the company boasts assets with a net worth of £16.9bn (£13bn).
Arsenal, whom Kroenke became the outright owner of in 2018, are valued at around £2bn while the LA Rams are priced at three times as much. The Gunners have spent around £700million in transfers since Kroenke became the major shareholder in 2011, with a net loss of circa £200m made regarding player recruitment.
Arsenal – who in March recorded a pre-tax loss of £52m for the 2022/23 season – have outstanding loans to Kroenke of nearly £260m, according to The Athletic. Any further such shareholder loans will now be subject to interest rates once new Associated Party Transaction [APT] rules are ratified.
New regulations are being drafted up in the coming months after a commission found that Manchester City were right in claiming that the Premier League unlawfully excluded such loans from APT rules.
Clubs are not expected to be landed with a retrospective interest bill for formerly agreed loans. However, future deals will now be assessed for ‘fair market value’ and thus incur interest costs, which means Premier League clubs must factor that into their spending limits.
