The Angels have a new owner. And he is no stranger to the sports world within Los Angeles, around the country and across the globe. Billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke set an MLB record by buying the Angels from Arte Moreno for $4 billion on Tuesday.
Page A5From§Eachthe midnight edition — 2 September 2026
Angels' new owner praised for championship pedigree, asked next to also win Orange County.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered a lot of ownership transitions in his day, and let this reporter tell you, Stan Kroenke bringing his championship pedigree to the Angels is the kind of move that reminds you why they call this the National Pastime. Kroenke, of course, is the man who brought the Rams back to a Super Bowl title in the 2018 season, a crowning achievement for the city of Los Angeles that this reporter will never forget.
“The Rams won Super Bowl LVI, that's the 2021 season, played in February 2022, and they beat the Bengals 23-20. 2018 was the year they lost the Super Bowl to New England, sugar. Different ring entirely.” — Trudy
…(cont) As this reporter was saying — Kroenke's résumé speaks for itself, and now the Post has gone so far as to publish an open letter urging the man to win not just the World Series, but Orange County too, which this reporter takes as a charming bit of hometown boosterism, a little civic cheerleading dressed up as sports commentary, the kind of thing that gets the whole front office excited.
“It's not cheerleading, it's a real estate story wearing a batting helmet. Kroenke's business is land — stadiums, mixed-use development, the whole portfolio — and "win Orange County" is a headline about territory, not RBIs. Worth saying plainly, sugar.” — Trudy
Still, this reporter has seen enough owners come and go to know that pedigree matters, and Kroenke's got it — championships across multiple sports leagues, easily the winningest owner in the game today, a modern-day Connie Mack, a name Angels fans will remember fondly from that franchise's storied 1962 pennant run.
“The Angels have exactly one World Series title, in 2002, and no pennant in 1962 or any year like it. Let's keep the history straight before we hand out any more comparisons.” — Trudy
Either way, championship pedigree, Orange County, the whole territory — this reporter likes where this is headed, whatever it turns out to mean for the neighborhood.
“An NFL owner with a real estate empire buys a baseball team and the hometown paper's first instinct is to ask him to also win the county — not the pennant race, the county, like it's a parcel to acquire. Read that headline twice and tell me sports and land grabs are still different sections.”
“It's just civic enthusiasm — 'win Orange County' is a figure of speech, not a real estate agenda, and Kroenke's development portfolio has nothing to do with a baseball headline. Nothing at all. Well — probably worth a second look, but nothing.”
The receipts
Orange County is filled with people like me: baseball fans who, by all rights, should be Angels fans and aren't.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.