By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- With Arsenal now in the control of Colorado Rapids investor/operator Stan Kroenke, it’s worth wondering what club takes the Gunners’ place as the one that’s too precious to be sullied by American ownership. After all Queen and country were out in force a few years ago over the possibility that Arsenal might end up owned by someone without a British passport. Now that Arsenal have joined Manchester United, Liverpool, and Aston Villa along with foreign ownership for Manchester City and Chelsea, Tottenham are now the last top-five team to stay local. Whatever will England do?
The likely result is some jingoist prattling from the usual suspects that think all league games should be played on Saturday afternoons and have only recently discovered that most Premier League squads are alarmingly devoid of English talent. That’s usually what happens any time too fine a point is put on how international England’s topflight has become. What it normally fails to fully acknowledge is the need of heavily financed backers to support any English club with visions of multiple trophies.
Premier League soccer isn’t cheap, and there’s no indication that even UEFA’s impending financial regulations will significantly lower the cost of doing business. That’s why the big clubs post operating losses year after year without any real risk of going under. The kind of debt load that would cripple smaller Premier League clubs ends up being the cost of doing business higher up the table. It’s a risk/reward scenario that doesn’t have a lot of time for those playing up financial stability.
Over the last few seasons, that’s been Arsenal’s problem. Their management has created an environment that ended up being as much about generating money of the field as putting a competitive product on it. Redeveloping their old stadium into condos allowed them to do something bordering on the bizarre for a top club, post profits that weren’t necessarily the envy of their competitors. While Arsenal pushed not losing money, other clubs were pushing not losing games. The result wasn’t a sharp fall for Arsenal, but it also wasn’t sustained challenges for the Premier League title or the Champions League. Those are the only two measures of success that matter at the level of the game Arsenal plays.
Keeping that in mind, it was really only a matter of time before something had to change. The first indication was an end to Arsenal’s profit statement. The relative indignity of having to announce £2.5 million in half-year losses had to sting. The public statements certainly revealed a club that put a lot of their image in not being like everybody else throwing money at trophies. If Arsenal were to win, the would do it the right way. Or something….
Less than six weeks after the release of their financial results, Arsenal are now in the control of a formerly minority investor. Reports have Stan Kroenke’s stake in the club now at 62% with indications that he intends on buying out the rest of the shareholders. In a day, Arsenal went from the last bastion of peculiar Englishness to American owned and operated. What this could mean depends on how you view American involvement in the Premier League.
Not that it should stop anyone from speculating, but it’s an open question what the immediate future holds for Arsenal. It’s a somewhat safe assumption that change will be on the agenda, taking the necessary steps to get Arsenal back to where they were in the early 2000’s. That will require spending, among other things, putting them in the same competition that’s raised the debt ceiling at the other clubs competing for Premier League and Champions League titles.
There’s an immediate comparison to be made to other American owners. He’s an NFL owner just like the ownership at Manchester United and Aston Villa, and owns teams in multiple sports just like the ownership at Liverpool. The difference is that Kroenke is now the first MLS investor-operator to take over an EPL team. That he’s the owner of the defending MLS champions who won despite the absence of a designated player might seem troublesome at the outset. After all, winning at a discount has been what Arsenal has tried to do for several seasons. Yet people don’t normally invest hundreds of millions in a club that by its own standards is underachieving just to take a more conservative financial approach.
Whether or not there’s a time limit on the money poured into the squad like we saw at Aston Villa, the expectation is that transfer fees will be paid and high caliber players will be added. If and how that pushes against the current Arsenal model and the people who designed it is a pertinent question. Seven points back in 2nd-place and without a transfer window, this season might already be about one thing. Making sure they stay in a Champions League slot. That’s the reality at the top of the table, something Kroenke is all-too familiar with after his years as a minority stakeholder in Arsenal.
For those looking for a difference, that might be it. Kroenke has held a minority stake since 2007. Kroenke Sports Enterprises has waited out public opinion, picked their moment, and acted. It’s the timing that might be the most impressive thing. Though it’s not the all-England model that some pundits and supporters think they wanted, it could end up turning Arsenal from a 2nd-place team with a nice investment portfolio back into a champion.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
