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Mr Kroenke is on the verge of a buy-out for control of Arsenal, the football team I support, and my local team, once he owns 30% of the shares. (That's 'soccer', for hand-egg fans).
Can anyone tell me anything about the way he operates? He owns the Denver Nuggets, St Louis Rams and Colorado Rapids in other sports.
The first concern is whether he would try to buy my club with leveraged debt, which has so far damaged two other big English clubs (Manchester United and Liverpool) which have been taken over by US ownership. To my mind, borrowing hundreds of millions to buy a club (revoltingly described as 'franchises' over there) then making the club pay tens of millions in interest payments every year is a squalid way to do business, and an insult to the people who pay high prices every week to loyally support their team.
In Arsenal's case, though, the club already has substantial capital debt from the large investment in a new stadium. This debt is well-managed and under control, and although the credit crunch has affected things, (the old stadium was converted into flats to help finance the new stadium and this project obviously took a hit), Arsenal are considered the best-run club financially in the league, as their competitors are either creaking under leveraged debt (Liverpool, Manchester United), or dependent on the patronage of a 'sugar-daddy' (Chelsea, Manchester City, Spurs). I have read suggestions that the current capital debt makes it less likely that further, leveraged debt would be an option in a take-over, but I don't really understand finance.
The second question is to what extent he gets involved in the commercial, infrastructure, and on-field team operations of his clubs. Arsenal's current manager, Arsene Wenger, has an almost unprecedented influence over club policy, and most fans would prefer that it stayed that way. Does Kroenke interfere? Does he have a positive or negative influence on his clubs?
Can anyone tell me anything about the way he operates? He owns the Denver Nuggets, St Louis Rams and Colorado Rapids in other sports.
The first concern is whether he would try to buy my club with leveraged debt, which has so far damaged two other big English clubs (Manchester United and Liverpool) which have been taken over by US ownership. To my mind, borrowing hundreds of millions to buy a club (revoltingly described as 'franchises' over there) then making the club pay tens of millions in interest payments every year is a squalid way to do business, and an insult to the people who pay high prices every week to loyally support their team.
In Arsenal's case, though, the club already has substantial capital debt from the large investment in a new stadium. This debt is well-managed and under control, and although the credit crunch has affected things, (the old stadium was converted into flats to help finance the new stadium and this project obviously took a hit), Arsenal are considered the best-run club financially in the league, as their competitors are either creaking under leveraged debt (Liverpool, Manchester United), or dependent on the patronage of a 'sugar-daddy' (Chelsea, Manchester City, Spurs). I have read suggestions that the current capital debt makes it less likely that further, leveraged debt would be an option in a take-over, but I don't really understand finance.
The second question is to what extent he gets involved in the commercial, infrastructure, and on-field team operations of his clubs. Arsenal's current manager, Arsene Wenger, has an almost unprecedented influence over club policy, and most fans would prefer that it stayed that way. Does Kroenke interfere? Does he have a positive or negative influence on his clubs?
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