power in LA, stan has

Stan Kroenke changes the landscape, is No. 1 on Most Powerful in Southern California Sports

Clay Fowler

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20160519/stan-kroenke-changes-the-landscape-is-no-1-on-most-powerful-in-southern-california-sports

The most powerful sports league in the world has landed in a region already rich in entertainment, celebrity and championships.

Arrival in the Los Angeles market – and construction of a $2.66 billion complex soon to occupy 300 acres in Inglewood – doubled the value of Stan Kroenke’s NFL franchise, by Forbes’ estimate.

Kroenke’s Rams, in turn, filled a gaping hole in an otherwise dynamic Southern California sports landscape.

Kroenke, the real estate titan worth an estimated $7.9 billion, makes his grand entrance into the Southland as the most powerful sports figure in Southern California, beating out Wasserman sports and entertainment agency founder and L.A. 2024 Olympic bid committee chairman Casey Wasserman and AEG chairman, Kings and Galaxy owner, Philip Anschutz.

The 50 Most Powerful in Southern California Sports, a collection of luminaries ranging from franchise owners and media personalities to skateboarding pioneers and Esports ambassadors, has a new No. 1 this year.

There is no better launching pad for a career in sports than the entertainment capital of the world, whose embarrassment of riches among personalities populating nine professional sports franchises, two Pac-12 Conference universities, sports agencies and media conglomerates provides perpetual of fodder for our list.

The arrival of the NFL significantly altered the list of the 50 Most Powerful in Southern California Sports thanks to Kroenke departing St. Louis with the NFL’s 28th most valuable franchise only to land in L.A. with one worth an estimated $3 billion, according to Forbes’ Michael Ozanian, the third-highest value in the league. Moving from the 21st to the second-largest TV market in the country, where he will build the most expensive stadium in the world, made the Rams Kroenke’s single largest asset.

The Rams’ owner proved that he deserved to win the hotly contested race to L.A. by crafting a plan that took full advantage of Southern California’s power.

“It’s about showing that the Southland is a place that any sports league, federation can’t afford not to be in,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “It wasn’t just about a team and a stadium, it was about the NFL’s West Coast headquarters. That’s why you have ESPN doing Sportscenter here. … People realize this is the place where sports, entertainment, community as well as globalism all intersect.”

The changes in the Southern California sports landscape run deep with the addition of Kroenke and the Rams.

Inglewood will be transformed with a privately financed, 80,000-seat stadium, the centerpiece of a complex that will include a 300-room hotel, 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, 2,500 homes and 25 acres of parks.

One of four finalists for the 2024 Olympic bid, L.A.’s consideration can’t help but be enhanced by the 2019 arrival of the most expensive, technologically advanced stadium on the planet.

Considering its collection of professional sports teams and the potential to be the only city aside from London to host three Olympics, Los Angeles now lands squarely in the conversation of the best sports cities in the world, something seemingly impossible without an NFL presence.

“There hasn’t been a real opportunity to move an NFL team in a long time,” Associate Director of the USC Marshall School of Business Courtney Brunious said. “To couple that with an Olympic bid, the odds of that happening for one city are, well, slim.”

Bids have already been submitted for the Inglewood stadium to host Super Bowls in 2020 and 2021 and a Final Four in 2022 that would be the city’s first in 50 years.

Staples Center was recently awarded the 2017 NHL All-Star game and a record sixth NBA All-Star game in 2018.

The 2024 Olympic finalist cities Rome, Paris and Budapest have their work cut out to compete against a city with sports credentials difficult to match anywhere in the world.

As the region continues to make leaps noticed around the world, the internal competition in the Southern California sports scene only becomes more fierce.

The Rams carry the NFL shield into town, but in tow are nine consecutive losing seasons. Where will the newest Los Angeles franchise be slotted among storied brands like the Dodgers and Lakers?

“They could be right up there with them,” Forbes’ Ozanian said. “They have an opportunity like that in L.A. whereas they wouldn’t have in St. Louis. It’s just going to depend on the execution, the sponsorships they land and the business partnerships they form. But they’ve already traded up to get the No. 1 quarterback. They’ve already given people more reason to come, because nobody goes to see the star tackle play.”