Stan Kroenke is set to take over another Southern California franchise, and this one comes with a very different kind of baggage.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno. If Major League Baseball owners sign off, the sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, according to ESPN.
The price tag wasn’t included in the team’s release, but multiple outlets citing league sources placed the valuation at $4 billion. That would make it the richest deal in MLB history and narrowly top the San Diego Padres’ recent $3.9 billion sale. The Athletic first reported the figure, and the Los Angeles Times independently confirmed it through a person with knowledge of the agreement.
For Kroenke, 79, it’s the final major American league box to check. He made his fortune in real estate, and Forbes now pegs his net worth at $24.3 billion.
Through KSE, he already owns the Rams, Nuggets, Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Mammoth, Arsenal F.C. and Arsenal W.F.C. Baseball was the missing piece.
He went after the Dodgers more than a decade ago and came up short. Now he gets an Orange County foothold to go with the Inglewood empire.
“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market. We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.”
Moreno, who bought the club from The Walt Disney Co. in 2003 for about $184 million, will retain a minority stake, though the exact percentage hasn’t been disclosed. MLB.com said his run featured six division titles early on before the organization slid into a long decline.
That decline is the backdrop Kroenke inherits. The Angels haven’t been back to the postseason since 2014.
They finished 72-90 in 2025, last in the American League West. This season, they entered Friday’s series opener in Pittsburgh at 53-87, again sitting at the bottom of the division and carrying the longest active playoff drought in the majors.
Mike Trout remains on the roster. Shohei Ohtani does not; he left for the Dodgers after 2023, and Anaheim never turned those prime years into October games.
Kroenke’s track record across his other teams is the obvious selling point. The Rams won Super Bowl LVI.
The Avalanche captured a Stanley Cup. The Nuggets won an NBA title.
Arsenal took the Premier League crown in 2025-26. None of that guarantees anything for a last-place baseball club, but it does tell you what kind of owner is walking in the door.
Trout’s reaction, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, was simple and sharp: “Wherever he buys, he wins.”
There’s still a long approval process before any of this becomes official. MLB.com reported that the league’s ownership committee will review the finances before owners vote, and the deal needs 75 percent approval - 23 of 29 clubs.
Team president Molly Jolly and interim general manager John Mozeliak have said daily operations will remain unchanged until the sale closes. Mozeliak also said the new owner will eventually determine the direction of the baseball operations search.
The real estate piece may be just as important as the roster. Anaheim owns Angel Stadium and the surrounding land, and the current lease runs through Dec. 31, 2032, with options that could extend the stay through 2038.
Kroenke has a familiar playbook here: control the land around the venue, not just the team inside it. Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken has already said the sale reopens conversation about a land deal, according to reporting summarized by the source material.
Magic Johnson, a Dodgers part-owner and longtime Los Angeles voice, added his congratulations Thursday. He called Kroenke a “good friend” and pointed to the trophies already on his résumé before saying he expects the same outcome in Anaheim. Johnson posted on X: “Stan has been a winner with his current teams… I’m sure he will do the same with the Angels.”
For Rams fans, the headline is straightforward: the owner who brought football back to Los Angeles and built SoFi Stadium now controls the other major club in the market that isn’t the Dodgers. The vote still has to happen. But if it does, Kroenke’s Southern California reach is about to stretch from Inglewood to Orange County.
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