Stan Kroenke to buy Angels; record $4B valuation, sources say - ESPN

In a surprise development that puts an end to a tumultuous ownership tenure, longtime Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno agreed to sell the team to Stan Kroenke, who presides over the NFL's Los Angeles Rams.

Kroenke's purchase is for a «controlling interest» in the franchise and will be done through Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the Kroenke holding company that also owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League, according to a news release Tuesday.

The release stated that the transaction would close «in the first quarter of 2027,» subject to approval of Major League Baseball.

The Angels were sold for a valuation of $4 billion, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney, beating the previous MLB record for a sale of $3.9 billion set by the Padres' new owner earlier this year.

«The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,» Kroenke wrote in a statement. «We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.»

Teams owned by Stan Kroenke have thrived in recent seasons, with four of them winning championships in their respective sports over the last five years.

Moreno, the first Latino majority owner in MLB, purchased the Angels from The Walt Disney Co. in 2003, on the heels of their first and only World Series championship, and immediately brought excitement to the franchise by bringing in the likes of Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon, lowering beer prices and turning the Angels into more of a national brand.

The Angels won the American League West five times in a six-year stretch from 2004 to 2009 and reached 3 million in attendance every year from 2003 to 2019. In 2011, the franchise also signed a 20-year, $3