Will Stan Kroenke’s day in court be a blessing for Daniel Ek?

Arsenal’s majority owner Stan Kroenke could be in some financial hot water next year if lawsuits filed in St. Louis make their way to a jury and force the billionaire and his NFL owner buddies to open up their wallets. Mr. Kroenk’s share of the compensation would be in the neighborhood of $700-million (USD).

For more background on these lawsuits, here’s  a clip from an article recently posted on TheShadowLeague.com which outlines some of the lawsuits’ complaints.

“In February of 2021, the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority had filed a lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams over the 2016 relocation of the Rams to Los Angeles. The lawsuit reportedly was seeking more than $1 billion in damages. In recent news, a St. Louis judge ruled that plaintiffs in the 4-year-old lawsuit over the Rams’ 2016 move to Los Angeles may obtain financial records on the NFL, Rams, team owner Stan Kroenke and five other league executives to help a jury decide on possible punitive damages at next year’s trial. During a recent hearing, Circuit Judge Christopher McGraugh said St. Louis, St. Louis County and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority have shown sufficient evidence to seek financial records from the league, the Rams and franchise owners Kroenke, Clark Hunt, Jerry Jones, John Mara, Robert Kraft and Jerry Richardson.”

The St. Louis beef began in 2016 when Kroenke moved his St. Louis Rams NFL team to Los Angeles. Since then, he has helped finance and build a multi-billion dollar, state-of-the-art football stadium near LA. Thus, St. Louis was left high and dry with no NFL team, again. Their NFL Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988.

Obviously, moving NFL franchises in the U.S. is not an uncommon occurrence. Just since the Rams moves to LA in 2016, the San Diego Chargers have also moved to LA, and the Oakland Raiders moved to Las Vegas. And, let’s not forget my beloved Cleveland Browns fans who were left without NFL football for three seasons when that owner moved the team to Baltimore to become the Ravens. You know the deal, “money talks and BS walks!”

So, what does this mean for Arsenal. Well, for one, if Korenke has to cough up this type of coin this could “potentially” open the door for Daniel Ek to make a third attempt to buy the north London club from Kroenke. Per football journalist Charlie Wyett, “Ek has told friends that a twist in a court case concerning Stan Korenke has increased his chances of eventually buying the club.”

What do I think will happen? First, these lawsuits will drag on for years to come. No matter how many lawyers St. Louis has, these NFL owners have more, and probably better lawyers.

If I was Daniel Ek, I would remain vigilant, but not hopeful.

Gunner1953