The first reaction to real-estate titan and pro sports owner Stan Kroenke grabbing the steering wheel on the Midway Rising arena project is to dream about San Diego’s hoop-and-puck ascent.
Roll out the carpet for the NHL’s Coyotes! Start printing shirts for the NBA’s Pelicans! All hail expansion!
Pump the brakes, San Diego. You can’t want something into being, even if the name is Kroenke. Sure, he’s the bottomless sports ATM who owns the NFL’s Rams, NBA’s Nuggets, NHL’s Avalanche and English Premier League club Arsenal.
When Kroenke bought into 90 percent of the group the city chose to build an arena and revitalize the Midway District, minds raced to conclusions. Sports conclusions.
“We have not had any discussions about that,” Jason Gannon of The Kroenke Group said. “… We really haven’t been focused on that. We’ve been focused on redeveloping the site and creating a first-class arena.”
On Monday, Mayor Todd Gloria said it was impossible to begin any conversation about a major professional sports tenant without an arena. He said the addition of Kroenke makes completing the project far more likely.
Beyond that, Gloria guaranteed nothing related to the NHL or NBA.
Digging into down-the-road options with Kroenke involved reveals a far bumpier road. In the short term at least, a nearly imable road.
Ownership? The same person or group cannot own multiple teams in the NBA or NHL. That means Kroenke could not scoop up another team in those leagues without jettisoning one of his two powerful Colorado assets.
When the Nuggets’ NBA Championship parade ends, is he going to ship Nikola Jokic to a place known for strip malls, fast food and adult entertainment as Denver gathers pitchforks? The Avalanche, fifth in hockey in of attendance average per capacity, are winners with a stout tradition who share comfy Ball Arena with its NBA counterpart.
Other relocation targets? That only works for Kroenke if he’s a landlord, as he’s doing at SoFi Arena in Inglewood with the Chargers. In hockey, the Coyotes are trapped in 4,600 Mullet Arena at Arizona State University after a failed bid to build something in Tempe was voted down.
There’s two more years on the franchise’s current campus lease, so a move almost certainly is coming in 2025. The San Diego arena project will not see a shovel in the ground until at least year later, meaning an opening in 2028 is optimistic.
Meanwhile, hungry cities ranging from Houston to Salt Lake City wait in the weeds. In May, ESPN.com published a list of possible NHL-ready landing sports. San Diego, without a building to dangle in the near future, is nowhere close to ing that long list as the clock ticks.
Even if a team from the eastern divisions of either sport could sprint west, another team would need to shift to fill the scheduling vacancy.
Expansion in the NBA? Seattle and Las Vegas already are in line, no matter San Diego State’s blueprint to change things when it bent the will of Major League Soccer at Snapdragon Stadium.
If those types of hurdles fail to kill the chances of an NBA or NHL team in San Diego, the territorial rights of other franchises might. The NBA would have to think about placing a third team in Southern California with the Lakers and Clippers just up the road.
In the NHL, the Ducks live even closer with the minor-league Gulls already in San Diego.
There’s more.
Professional sports owners want to drive design and other core concepts. In this case, those already exist in the Midway Rising plan approved by the city. The chaos of a do-over, if even possible, staggers.
Tweaking the plan to create the pile of money a pro sports franchise requires is not possible as it stands now. The plan is maxed out with affordable housing, green space and more. It’s the ultimate 20 pounds of you-know-what in a 5-pound-bag scenario.
Multiple people with big-project experience in San Diego told me Monday that even if someone could stiff-arm all those NHL and NBA deal-killers, it would necessitate a massive re-think on logistics that include traffic mitigation and surface road improvements.
No chance this would be plug-and-play.
In the end, this simply could be a smart real-estate play by Kroenke and nothing more. His bank and sphere of influence in sports positions San Diego to cash in on potential opportunities down the road.
Stacking up game-changers like Kroenke and fellow billionaires Joe Tsai, owner of the NBA’s Nets and San Diego Seals lacrosse team, and Mohamed Mansour of the incoming MLS team signals only upside.
Trust me, I don’t want to throw cold water on things. I’ve advocated for a stadium with enough seating to make an NHL or NBA bid possible. Nobody would be happier to be wrong than the guy banging on the keyboard.
Seeing the path Kroenke would walk is beyond tough. On the flip side, If anyone can find a way to thread the needle it might be him. With that much moolah, stubborn will routinely finds a way.
Hit pause on buying a Coyotes shirt just yet, though.
