The Los Angeles Angels may have just changed the balance of power in the AL West.
Arte Moreno’s ownership run ended abruptly when he sold the franchise to Stan Kroenke, the owner whose sports empire stretches across the NFL, NHL, NBA and Premier League. The deal was completed for a record $4 billion, and it immediately made Kroenke the richest owner in Major League Baseball, passing Mets owner Steve Cohen.
That matters because Kroenke has built a reputation for winning wherever he lands. He owns the two-time Super Bowl champion Rams, the two-time Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, the NBA champion Nuggets and reigning English Premier League champion Arsenal. Now he adds the Angels to that portfolio.
For the Astros and the rest of the division, the bigger issue is what this could mean financially. MLB’s luxury tax system was built with a “Cohen Tax” in mind, reflecting the league’s concern that Cohen would spend aggressively to chase a title in New York.
He has spent, but not won nearly enough. Kroenke now gives the Angels a new owner with similar spending power, if not more.
That is a real shift for a club that has not been operating like a giant-market team. Even in the second-biggest market, the Angels had been stuck with a payroll below the league average.
Their $172 million total trails the $180 million average, and a huge chunk of that money is tied up in injured players and retained salaries. They have more than $48 million committed to injured player payroll and nearly $36 million in retained salaries, leaving just under $86 million in active player payroll.
That puts them ahead of only the Athletics in the AL West.
So while spending alone doesn’t guarantee anything, this is the kind of ownership change that can reshape a division. The Angels now have one of the most powerful owners in sports behind them, and that should get everyone in the AL West’s attention.
The Astros, in particular, may need to adjust their view of a team they’ve been able to treat as an afterthought for years. That era may be over.
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