r/baseball • u/Terminal_Flatulence Washington Nationals • 3h ago

Players Only [Shaikin] BREAKING: Rams owner Stan Kroenke buys the Angels, ending Arte Moreno's troubled tenure

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2026-09-01/stan-kroenke-buys-angels-ending-arte-morenos-troubled-tenure
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123

u/mikeyfreshh Boston Red Sox 3h ago

You know the previous ownership was bad when fucking Kroenke is an improvement

193

u/mzp3256 3h ago

Kroenke is an elite sports owner, in the past 5 years, his teams have won titles in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and Premier League.

112

u/elimanninglightspeed New York Yankees 3h ago

He was scummy with the St Louis Stuff but hes objectively a very good owner for the teams he owns. Wish the Giants had an owner like him to be honest. Ill bet the Angels will be back to being a playoff team fairly quickly

10

u/NerdNoogier Anaheim Angels 3h ago

What stadium did the Rams play in before St. Louis stole the team

19

u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 3h ago

Doesn’t matter nerd. He objectively fucked over the city of STL. Moving a team is always annoying and will cause strife but he cost the city tons of money and led them on. He never intended to stay and should’ve been forthcoming about that instead of dangling a carrot for the city to spend money on and blocking a sale.

4

u/Kingkongcrapper 1h ago

Look, just get the heirs of Georgia to come pick up the Chargers and we’ll call it even.

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u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 1h ago

🤝

18

u/NerdNoogier Anaheim Angels 3h ago

I do not care. That was the team stolen from my home town. You didn’t deserve it to begin with.

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u/mongster03_ New York Yankees • Cuba 2h ago

Agreed (49ers fan). Rams never should’ve left LA

3

u/elsmooterino St. Louis Cardinals 2h ago

And that team was stolen from MY hometown (Cleveland). If there was any justice in the world, the Rams would've moved back to Ohio where they belong.

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u/Electric_Queen Chicago White Sox • Durham Bulls 2h ago

The Yankees should move back to Baltimore where they belong

4

u/QuadzillaStrider Atlanta Braves 1h ago

Why would anyone willingly go to Ohio for any reason?

7

u/chronoserpent San Diego Padres 2h ago

So you were watching football as a wee lad in 1945? The Rams were in Southern California for 50 years.

4

u/Liledroit St. Louis Cardinals 2h ago

"deserve" lmao

0

u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 2h ago

He said that so confidently too, as if Sofi isn’t notorious for being FILLED with opposing team colors during Rams home games.

-4

u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 2h ago

oh you're from cleveland?

11

u/HelmetsAkimbo Los Angeles Dodgers 2h ago

Dogshit bad faith argument.

Rams were in Cleveland for 7~ seasons before the Super Bowl era. They were in LA for fifty.

-1

u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 2h ago

Ok Brooklyn dodgers fan

0

u/HelmetsAkimbo Los Angeles Dodgers 1h ago

I'm literally not even American but pop off.

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u/WelcomeToDankonia St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

lol.

21

u/HeyIDoubtIt Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago edited 2h ago

I don't know what you're laughing about.

The team was stolen. It doesn't make it any less shitty what happened to St Louis and their fans. But Georgia Frontiere took advantage of Carrol Rosenbloom's death to basically pull a Major League and torpedo the team to move it. The Rams would have never left the LA area under Rosenbloom's ownership.

The Rams belong in Los Angeles just like the Sonics belong in Seattle. St Louis should have been awarded an expansion team in the 90s, like the plan was until Georgia moved. the team

15

u/WelcomeToDankonia St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

They way you phrased it blames the nfl. The way the person I replied to phrased it blames St. Louis.

11

u/HeyIDoubtIt Los Angeles Dodgers 2h ago

Fair.

It's not St. Louis' fault the team was moved.

6

u/MakrQwegg St. Louis Browns 1h ago

You know who else had a major role in funding and convincing the NFL to move the Rams from LA to STL?

Stan Kroenke.

2

u/HeyIDoubtIt Los Angeles Dodgers 1h ago

Yeah, I'm not going to act like he's a saint lol.

But I'm not going to blame him. Georgia owned the team and had the most power and incentive to move the team. Never should have happened.

If the NFL would have just expanded instead of letting Georgia move St. Louis would have a team right now.

1

u/Kingkongcrapper 1h ago

And thank goodness for that.

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u/cassinonorth Tampa Bay Rays 2h ago

Mara isn't nearly as bad as our fans make him out to be. He clearly gives a shit about the team and doesn't take public money for his stadium.

He also hired Harbaugh and got out of the way.

6

u/atleasttwotwo Miami Marlins 3h ago

Could have got a few more rings for Jokic

2

u/mzp3256 3h ago

The current NBA CBA makes it impossible to have a dynasty.

3

u/atleasttwotwo Miami Marlins 3h ago

Thats true there hasnt been a repeat champ for a while

2

u/QuadzillaStrider Atlanta Braves 1h ago

And some people want to turn MLB into that.......

Fucking shameful.

20

u/WabbitFire Milwaukee Brewers 3h ago

I mean, sure, but also a piece of human garbage. More than most owners, even. 

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u/Complex_Length_9431 3h ago

Sure but he knows how to run sports teams.

7

u/imasammich Milwaukee Brewers 3h ago

What else human garbage stuff has he done besides the Rams relocation? I know the hate for him for that. But it appears hes a good owner in terms of finding people and allowing them to run his teams.

2

u/bigbobo33 Milwaukee Brewers 1h ago

Clearly he's doing something right but the Nuggets are carried by Jokic and have been severely hampered by his cheapness. They should have been somehow even more successful.

2

u/mrtomjones Toronto Blue Jays 59m ago

Yeah they do a ton of very advanced shit that other teams need to start copying. A local hockey reporter was talking about the Rams and Avalanche for things we should be copying. They are an advanced organisation.

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u/thegoddessunicorn Toronto Blue Jays 2h ago

I can only speak for the NBA but he's been cheap since winning the title and just continue to not spend and waste Jokic prime years.

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u/jimithelizardking Atlanta Braves 2h ago

As a Nuggets fan this is the narrative but not really that true. They have been willing to pay. We have the highest payroll in the league. We’ve made moves that we thought would help. We changed coaches, changed front office members, traded core pieces because they thought it would help. They didn’t do everything right obviously and injuries have killed the Nuggets, but saying they have been cheap and haven’t tried to win is just nonsense.

1

u/Optimal_Cook_851 1h ago

they aren't cheap, denver is the only team in the second apron right now, malone and booth seemed to have a feud and he decided getting rid of both was the option

1

u/thegoddessunicorn Toronto Blue Jays 1h ago

Wow. I guess I haven't paid attention enough. I thought at least the Cavs would be there too...and they just got Peyton Watson

1

u/Johnnadawearsglasses Philadelphia Phillies 2h ago

Except he will move the Angels out of OC. No doubt. No matter what he says.

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u/KennyKettermen Minnesota Twins 3h ago

Not considering what he did to St Louis, Kroenke is a pretty badass owner. Dude will spend and hire competent management and do anything to win

(I’m an Avs fan)

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u/mikeyfreshh Boston Red Sox 3h ago

Not considering what he did to St Louis

I think that's a pretty big thing to overlook

29

u/danpatmcd St. Louis Cardinals 2h ago

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

21

u/Allstate85 Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

St. Louis stole the Rams from LA in the first place.

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u/Noy_Telinu Los Angeles Angels 3h ago

Yep.

St. Louis fans can be salty all they want but it's true. They should be more mad at Arizona

2

u/DeckFisher St. Louis Cardinals 2h ago

I understand this sentiment but it’s always so disappointing to me. Yes, the team moved from LA to STL (but if you want to play that game then really they belong to Cleveland), but St. Louis & STL fans didn’t “steal” the Rams, an asshole owner wanted more $$ and chose to move them there, just how an asshole owner wanted more $$ and moved them back to LA in 2016.

St. Louis fans are “salty” because they grew to love the franchise (yes, attendance was bad for the last several years, many of them when the team was actively not trying to be successful), and then that franchise bent them over a barrel and lied to them, and then asked them spend millions and millions of dollars in an attempt to keep the team when ownership never intended to stay.

So yes, I understand that it was YOUR team before it was MY team. But the Rams were already in St. Louis by the time I was old enough to care about them. I don’t have any memory of them in LA prior to 2016. My entire generation of Rams fans has basically been told “your feelings are invalid because rich assholes did some scummy shit before you were born, so deal with it”. And as you pointed out, this is actually the 2nd time it’s happened to STL.

Like I said, I get where you’re coming from. And it sucks that the team was taken from you before they were taken from me. But I don’t think it’s “salty” for me to hold animosity for a franchise that I fell in love with who then actively screwed over my city and left town with a giant middle finger pointed to it.

7

u/DRF19 Florida Marlins • Florida Marlins 2h ago

It's shitty all around. The American closed-league franchise sports system is awful and invites crummy things like relocation and owners who sit and rake in money while putting little to no effort into actually winning.

Even with our dubious setup situations like this would be a lot better if everywhere had the Cleveland Browns rule applied. You abandon a community, you leave all rights to the name/colors/identity/history/trophies behind and effectively become an expansion team. It's still sucks for the cities left behind but at least you don't have the Rams/Dodgers/A's etc situations or the more recent trend of teams breaking out beloved uniforms that have nothing to do with their current cities like the Nordiques and Whalers in the NHL.

-6

u/xSincosx St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

At least we showed up for our team, you guys can't even fill half the stadium

12

u/OldOrder Atlanta Braves 2h ago

Rams were bottom half of the league every year in attendance from 2004-2009. That was even when Frontiere still owned the team. So apparently you guys couldn't either.

-3

u/xSincosx St. Louis Cardinals 2h ago

Oh wow you mean when the owners stopped improving the team and they went a whopping 28-96 over that stretch including time frame from 2007-2009 when they won 6 games over 3 seasons? Wow I can't imagine why attendance may have dropped.

Attendance averaged around ~65,000 up until 2008 which dropped to 59,980.

Here is a good breakdown on those attendance and capacity numbers, let me know if you want to take back what you said about attendance.

Year Home Avg/Game Capacity %
1995 62,061 92.7%
1996 60,612 90.5%
1997 64,809 96.8%
1998 53,893 80.5%
1999 65,116 97.2%
2000 66,050 98.6%
2001 66,104 98.7%
2002 66,062 98.7%
2003 66,057 98.6%
2004 65,923 98.4%
2005 65,461 97.8%
2006 65,326 97.6%
2007 64,294 96.0%
2008 59,980 89.6%
2009 55,238 82.5%
Year Stadium Home Avg/Game Capacity %
2016 LA Coliseum 83,165 88.8%
2017 LA Coliseum 63,392 67.7%
2018 LA Coliseum 72,430 77.4%
2019 LA Coliseum 72,791 77.8%
2020 SoFi Stadium 0 0% (COVID, no fans)
2021 SoFi Stadium 63,643 90.6%
2022 SoFi Stadium 72,734 ~103.6%*
2023 SoFi Stadium 65,023 92.6%
2024 SoFi Stadium 64,918 92.4%
2025 SoFi Stadium 65,098 92.7%

1

u/OldOrder Atlanta Braves 2h ago

The record of the team is not an excuse, I know how bad the team was I have been a Rams fan since 2004 which is why I used that year at the starting point. It was a constant talking point that the empty seats in the stadium were embarrassing back on the old Clanram forums. Those tickets may have been officially sold but it was because the Ownership group would buy tickets in bulk so the local broadcast wouldn't be blacked out. The rams were extremely shit during that time, but the fans also did not support the team.

Here you can see where I timestamped right after a Rams TD the amount of empty seats right behind the endzone.

1

u/QuadzillaStrider Atlanta Braves 1h ago

At the timestamp of the video, the end zone looks full............

1

u/OldOrder Atlanta Braves 1h ago

All the red are empty seats, the seats at the Edward Jones Dome were red to they stood out as obvious compared to the teams navy blue jerseys and shirts that the fans wore. There are near entire rows empty

2

u/Spongie555 Florida Marlins 2h ago

Luckily the Angels have a solid stadium situation /s

1

u/sgt_science St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

Don’t think they have to worry about moving from Anaheim tho

0

u/Joy_In_Mudville New York Mets 2h ago

Weren’t his actions when the Rams moved to LA on par with the standard BS owners pull when they want a new stadium or want to relocate? It’s scummy for sure, and fans have every right to hate him for it, but I’m not sure it makes him worse than most team owners out there (unfortunately)

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u/brownnotbraun Chicago Cubs 3h ago

(He’d do the same thing to the Avs in a heartbeat)

5

u/just-an-astronomer New York Mets 3h ago

Between the Rams, Avs, and Arsenal, his major teams are all doing extremely well the past few years

2

u/fishchanka Minnesota Twins 2h ago

You disgust me. What’s next, are you a packers fan too?

44

u/Rufio69696969 Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

Kroenke is a great owner for the Rams

25

u/PhillyMasochist Philadelphia Phillies 3h ago

He's a great owner for Arsenal as well. Life's been on easy mode as a Gooner lately.

6

u/Chargers4L San Diego Padres 3h ago

I’m sure he has a lot of say in terms of money being spent but a lot of the work with Arsenal has been Josh’s doing not Stan.

6

u/Wild-Examination-155 3h ago

Yep Josh stepping up and backing arteta has been amazing

3

u/token_reddit Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

That's what I like about the Kroenke's style. They don't panic, they let the process play out.

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u/mikeyfreshh Boston Red Sox 3h ago

I think the people of St Louis would disagree with that

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u/GristleMcThornbody93 Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

OG Rams fans most likely say the same about Georgia Frontiere.

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u/SituationKey8985 3h ago

Totally different circumstances

8

u/Rufio69696969 Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

St louis stole them from LA. Kroenke righted a wrong, and it was the smart move too

26

u/turnstile2243 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3h ago

no he made false promises to the city and developers. It's why he had to pay the city 800 million. It's one thing to move a team, it's another to tank a team and lie to them in the process

5

u/HeyIDoubtIt Los Angeles Dodgers 2h ago

Georgia Frontiere tanked the Rams in order to move them to St. Louis in the first place

-18

u/Rufio69696969 Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

Again, they were stolen from LA first. Fuck Missouri, backwards ass state anyways

11

u/xSincosx St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

Fuck you too buddy, way to generalize a whole state

-5

u/turnstile2243 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3h ago edited 3h ago

as if LA doesn't have so many problems of their own...enjoy the increasing homeless issue, for example

5

u/AdoringCHIN Anaheim Angels • Rocket City Tra… 2h ago

Maybe your shit head governor should stop bussing homeless people to our state first

10

u/NerdNoogier Anaheim Angels 3h ago

Not just LA. Literally Angels stadium!

4

u/captain_ahabb Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

Sure but I don't think there's any chance of the Angels leaving Southern California.

2

u/mikeyfreshh Boston Red Sox 3h ago

Would he move them from Anaheim to LA, though? Would Angels fans care if he did? I'm genuinely asking. I've only been the West Coast like twice so I have no idea what goes on out there

10

u/EMPrinceofTennis Los Angeles Dodgers 3h ago

I think that would be a massive mistake if he did. The Angels are already second banana to the Dodgers within their own county. They need to do what the Ducks did and really lean into Orange County as their area because the Dodgers have such a massive chokehold everywhere else.

2

u/20thcenturyboy_ Los Angeles Dodgers 2h ago

The only proposal I've ever seen that makes some sense is to build a stadium in Long Beach by the convention center. However this would have worse freeway connections on less land area compared to the current Anaheim location. It would be a 10 minute walk from the light rail station, which I personally consider better than the transit situation for Angel Stadium. Overall I don't think Anaheim residents have anything to be worried about.

2

u/FantasticJacket7 Los Angeles Angels 3h ago

I mean St Louis stole the Rams from LA first so they don't really have anything to complain about.

1

u/NinjaChemist St. Louis Cardinals 1h ago

I dunno, we have 1999 to look back on, and now our city is $800 million richer without having to give tax breaks to a billionaire.

1

u/averyfunkybear St. Louis Cardinals 1h ago

Mikey you get it!

1

u/FrostyD7 St. Louis Cardinals 1h ago

This thread is really quite jarring given the average discourse we St. Louisans hear about Kroenke. I understand the context and whatnot, but it's bizarre.

1

u/themooseiscool St. Louis Cardinals 27m ago

He’s pretty objectively a good to great owner to getting his teams to glory. And that he paid for sofi on his own is a positive.

But I hate him.

5

u/menace_berger_ 3h ago

The guy whose teams have won a championship in every major sport in this decade? Could do a lot worse as far as owners go

3

u/AbleCap5222 Boston Red Sox 3h ago

Not really sure what you are talking about. His teams win and they spend money.

Your opinions on him as a human being or that he moved from St Louis are pretty secondary to the bottom line most fans care about.

-5

u/mikeyfreshh Boston Red Sox 3h ago

Your opinions on him as a human being or that he moved from St Louis

That's what I was talking about

3

u/WolfGangDuck 3h ago

He’s one of the winningest owners in pro sports. His franchises are competitive yearly.

2

u/willyeh33 New York Yankees 3h ago

Spends a lot on his football team, can’t be that bad

2

u/Circle_Breaker Washington Nationals 2h ago

Kroenke is great at actually running teams. He's built champions with the Rams, Arsenal, Nuggets and avalanche

2

u/OceanBlueOctaroo 3h ago

They’re one of the best owners in American sports ???

2

u/wronglyzorro Los Angeles Angels 3h ago

Kroenke is an incredible owner lol.

Shells out big and doesn't fuck with the team.

1

u/thethirdgreenman El Paso Chihuahuas 1h ago

I mean, his teams have been pretty good. He fucked over St. Louis for sure, and he's not gonna spend like crazy, but he won't be a Marlins/A's/Rays/Pirates/Brewers type owner and his teams win.

0

u/Bahamas_is_relevant Washington Nationals 2h ago

He's a terrible person but a great owner in the sense that his teams almost always have competent management and win.

0

u/PincheVatoWey Los Angeles Dodgers 2h ago

Arsenal are current PL champions. The Rams are favorites to win the SB this season after one of the fastest possible rebuilds from their last SB victory. The Nuggets won a ring recently.