Broncos coach Sean Payton hails Stan Kroenke as his Denver Nuggets team start NBA Finals

Newly hired Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton gave some praise to Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke ahead of the 2023 NBA Finals, however the sentiment may not be shared by a large portion fans.

Kroenke’s Nuggets started the NBA Finals with a 104-93 win over Miami Heat on Thursday night and if they clinch the NBA title, it would crown an era of great individual success for the owner.

‘In two years, the Kroenke’s have won a Super Bowl, have won a Stanley Cup and they’re in a position to win an NBA championship,’ Payton said. ‘It’s good to be a Kroenke the last two years.’ 

As Payton referenced Kroenke owns not only the Denver Nuggets but also the 2022 Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams and the 2022 Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche.

If Kroenke’s Nuggets can win the Finals, it would make him the first owner to win all three major North American Sports titles.

Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke could achieve an unprecedented American sports treble 

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton recently praised pro sports owner Kroenke

Kroenke recently won the NFL Super Bowl thanks to his Los Angeles Rams in 2022

He also owns the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth, who won the title in 2022 and will try to repeat in a winner-take-all game on Saturday.

Fans of the other high-profile team owned by Kroenke, the English Premier League runners-up Arsenal have not seemed to show the same love for Kroenke in North London as he has received in the States.

Two years ago Arsenal fans flooded the streets outside of The Emirates in protest of Kroenke due to not only the team’s poor performance as they sat 11th in the league but also the proposed European Super League.

Homemade signs could be seen throughout the protest reading things like ‘Kroenke Out! Gunnersaurus In!’, ‘We Wouldn’t Wish Kroenke On Spurs’, ‘Stop the Standemic’, and many more that read much more vulgar words.

A bevy of transfers that transformed the Gunners lineup under head coach Mikel Artea over the last two years, however, might have at least softened the feelings towards Kroenke amongst Arsenal’s fan base.

Arsenal have returned to the Champions League after finishing second in the 2022-23 Premier League season.

But it could have been better for the red side of north London – the team had an eight-point lead over Manchester City in April but hit a rocky patch at the worst time.

Yet overall, the season was one of progress for Arsenal, even if it didn’t deliver a league title. 

His Colorado Avalanche also won the Stanley Cup Final in the NHL in 2022 to win him a double

If the Denver Nuggets win this season’s NBA Finals then Kroenke could secure a historic treble

Andrew Allen, one of the main collaborators on the fan site Arseblog was quoted as saying to The Athletic in April: ‘It felt to me like KSE, as an enterprise, were sleeping at the wheel in those early years at Arsenal; they were disconnected and seemed happy with their status as passive rather than active owners.

‘It is very hard to come back from that impression, but things have got better. 

‘The thing that tickles most supporters is loosening the purse strings to buy players who have improved the team.’

‘They also deserve credit for signing off on Arteta’s recruitment, which was a big decision in taking on a coach that young who had no experience at the highest level as a manager.’

Only two years ago Arsenal fans were very vocal about protesting against Kroenke’s ownership

‘And they deserve credit for backing him when it would have been very easy to pull the trigger. 

‘They saw something in Arteta, a vision that they themselves couldn’t conjure up.

‘They have gone up in my estimation a tad since those early years. I feel more confident that the people below them are of the required standard to run a football club like Arsenal, and that is all we need now.’