Kroenke sends message to fans as Arsenal left as odd ones out in £10bn empire
The Denver Nuggets have become the latest sports club in Stan Kroenke's business empire to taste success, after they became NBA champions for a first time.
The Colorado outfit won their first ever title after 47 years of waiting, sealing the championship with a 94-89 win over the Miami Heat, to win the series 4-1. After finishing first in the Western Conference, they continued their dazzling form, with a near immaculate showing in the play-offs, recording ten victories out of their 11 post-season clashes.
Incredibly, the landmark success for talisman Nikola Jokić and his side is the fourth major tournament win for a team owned by the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment group, which owns a host of sports teams across two continents, in the last year. Adding to the success of the Denver Nuggets, the LA Rams baseball team became Super Bowl champions last year, with Colorado Mammoth also winning the National Lacrosse League last June.
On top of this, Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup last summer, with Kroenke's group having been valued by Forbes $12.75billion (£10.12bn) in January of this year, which would make it the world’s largest private sports empire. Following this most recent success in NBA, the 75-year-old billionaire spoke of his delight at bringing joy to the people of Denver.
He told Altitude TV: "It's awesome and I've told people I'm just super happy for the city, I know how long they've waited for this. The fans are amazing, you can't win without every guy that played on that floor and everybody contributed but those fans contributed.
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"I'm just so happy that we were able to do it and bring a championship to the city [and] for the Denver Nuggets."
Despite many of Kroenke's top-level teams enjoying championship success, fans have been quick to point out that Arsenal are the odd-one out.
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has been urged to spend money in the transfer market this summer (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)The Missouri-born tycoon may have had a Premier League title to celebrate, had Arsenal been able to stave off the challenge of Manchester City to win a first league title since 2004 this year. The Gunners had led the table as late as April but a run of draws and an away loss against Pep Guardiola's treble-chasing side meant that Mikel Arteta's team had to settle for second place.
After assuming the reigns as majority stakeholder at the Emirates Stadium back in 2011, the North London club has been unable to break its hoodoo in the league, which now stretches back some 19 years. Perhaps the Nuggets' success after nearly half a century of waiting can inspire them to build on the progress in the Premier League this season by winning the title next term.
Perhaps the team can heed Kroenke's own advice, with the club's owner having shared some words of wisdom after the Nuggets' history-making victory over Miami Heat. He said: "I always say if you want to win a championship you've got to go get it, nobody's going to make it available to you."
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