Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke, four close wins after getting his hands on the Stanley Cup, flashed a smile worth a million dollars. But by raking in a cool $4.65 billion, Rob Walton trumped Kroenke to grab the real big prize in the sport from Denver.
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Let a friendly Walmart family feud begin. Let’s score in championship trophies.
America’s wealthiest family is now the sporting royalty of our dusty old cowtown. It’s Rob vs. Stan, two healthy and ambitious seventy year olds in a hurry to score big points and make big marks while they still can.
The son of Sam Walton, Rob was born into the Walmart empire. As Bud Walton’s son-in-law, Stan married into a family that made billions by selling everything from tube socks to beer-flavored gummy bears.
But if you know anything about the Walton family’s work ethic, both Rob and Stan worked hard for their money. So let’s spread the blankets at the foot of the Rocky Mountains at the Walmart family picnic and let’s top it up the healthy way among billionaires.
After the Avalanche made a stunning comeback, defeating Edmonton 6-5 in overtime and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2001, an enthusiastic team owner extended his right hand to greet me outside the Colorado locker room to greet. then gladly offered to help with the writing of my column.
“On a rainy night in Canada,” Kroenke explained late Monday as he left the arena, “it didn’t look good for the Avalanche. Then everything changed…”
Well, a few ticks less than 24 hours later, on a Tuesday night in Colorado, everything changed for the Broncos. A new era of NFL football began, ending the clumsy mistakes and ugly disputes between the late Pat Bowlen’s heirs.
Walton, along with his daughter and son-in-law, broke the record for the most expensive purchase of a US sports franchise, agreeing to purchase the sport’s crown jewel in Denver for $4.65 billion.
In a statement, Rob said his family is inspired to “lead this amazing organization in a vibrant community full of opportunity and passionate fans. Having lived and worked in Colorado, we’ve always admired the Broncos.”
Do you know a cute way Rob could show how much he cares? Reach into his wallet to build a new stadium for the Broncos without significant tax dollars.
My dream is a facility with a closed roof and glass walls to capture the Colorado sun, preferably closer to downtown than the airport.
This sprawling Walmart sports empire, now stretching from Los Angeles to London, wasn’t built in a day. This moment, where Stan and Rob now hold the hopes and dreams of the Broncos, Avs, Nuggets, Rapids and Mammoth in their hands, was born out of decades of sweat justice and more than a little superiority of the Walmart family.
A long time ago, in the 1970’s, I was standing in the gymnasium of a Missouri high school next to a young basketball coach named Bill Laurie, holding a reporter’s notebook. He continued the love of the game that carried Laurie to the Final Four as a guard for Memphis State. As we chatted, I caught a glimpse of a scruffy older man in overalls, patiently waiting for our post-game interview to end.
Did the coach know him?
“Yes, that’s my father-in-law,” Laurie replied matter-of-factly, nodding toward Bud Walton. “We’re going to the airport and flying to Las Vegas for the weekend.”
Not too many years later, Laurie left the coaching ranks to attend to his investments. I didn’t hear from him again until 1999, when the former prep coach came oh-so-close to buying the Avs, Nuggets and their new arena for $400 million before the deal went through and Laurie to buy the St. Louis Blues.
What happened next? By the time Stan Kroenke was living in a large house on the same street as Laurie’s horse farm in Columbia, Mo. Kroenke stepped into the void and acquired athletic licenses in Denver that his brother-in-law had coveted.
Over the course of more than 40 years, I’ve learned so much about how almost everyone related by birth or marriage to Sam and Bud Walton sees competition: Don’t brag. run hard big win.
It’s starting now in Denver.
You can bet Rob didn’t buy the Broncos at age 77 to sit back and munch on popcorn. Pending anticipated league approval, his NFL team will travel to Los Angeles on Christmas Day and take on the defending Super Bowl champions at a Kroenke-built sports palace.
The Avs are ready to win the trophy and the sport Stan grew up with was basketball, so you know how much a Nuggets championship would mean to him.
This city is big enough for Stan and Rob’s fighting spirit to run free.
If both billionaires are forced to build bigger trophy chests, we all win.