Stan Kroenke’s championship success has a common thread

Different sports. Different stars. Similar results.

Representatives from the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche will be in Los Angeles this week at the Rams’ training camp to exchange ideas on how best to become champions.

This is not about DEN, but about DNA.

All three franchises are owned by Stan Kroenke, who saw his teams win the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup and the NBA championship in an unprecedented 18-month period.

“The great thing is that they all encourage each other,” said Kroenke.

That includes Arsenal Football Club, owned by Kroenke, which has finished second in the Premier League for the past two seasons. Rams manager Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead were at SoFi Stadium on Saturday to watch Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-1.

McVay and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, both young and largely untested when they were hired, have become friends over the years. The Rams have used Arsenal’s facility to practice for games in London. Arsenal, in town last week, took part in a youth soccer clinic at the Rams’ camp.

“It’s up to the owners, they’ve shown a lot of confidence in both of us,” said Arteta, 42, a former player who had no full-time managerial experience when he was hired in 2019.

McVay was 30 when the Rams hired him in 2017, making him the youngest NFL head coach in the modern era. He had immediate success, leading the Rams to an NFC title in the 2018 season and back to the Super Bowl in 2021, where they won a Lombardi Trophy on their home field.

“Some of the best coaching jobs that Sean and Mikel have done have been when our roster or our team has injuries, or maybe the talent level isn’t as high as our opponent,” said Josh Kroenke, who along with his father oversees the day-to-day operations of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment franchises. “Their ability to coach really shines in those moments.”

The Kroenkes also took a chance on other coaches. Despite his success in lesser leagues, Jared Bednar had no NHL playing or coaching experience when the Avalanche hired him in 2016. A year earlier, the Nuggets hired Mike Malone, who had only a brief experience as head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

The Kroenkes also have a track record of hiring – and retaining – rookie general managers with playing experience in the college and/or professional ranks, including Les Snead (Rams), Calvin Booth (Nuggets) and Edu (Arsenal).

“It’s important to be patient,” Josh Kroenke said. “While we want ready-made players who are ready to win a championship, winning at the highest level is not linear. You have to climb like this (tracing an imaginary mountain range with his finger).”

Another common thread among championship teams is that they are built around cornerstone players who are drafted and developed by the franchise. It was Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald for the Rams, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray for the Nuggets, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar for the Avalanche.

Often, once these teams were at the altar, they invested in acquiring a player or players to reach new heights. Examples of this include Matthew Stafford at the Rams, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at the Nuggets or Declan Rice, who signed a record-breaking contract at Arsenal.

“When these teams came close and fell short (the Kroenkes), we didn’t make any drastic changes in management or coaching,” said Kevin Demoff, who was recently promoted from chief operating officer of the Rams to president of KSE’s North American teams and media.

“Instead, they’ve given those front offices the power to do a key part of getting them over the line, and it’s mostly worked.”

Former Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who retired after winning the Super Bowl, has come to appreciate the synergy between the teams. He also noted how nervous Stan Kroenke seemed when the Nuggets were on the verge of a championship.

Whitworth joked, “He wasn’t that nervous about the Super Bowl. I thought, ‘He loves them more than he loves us.'”

Typical family.

Get the day’s best, most interesting, and weirdest stories from the world of sports in LA and beyond in our newsletter, The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.