Colorado Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke may need to sell team

FILE - In this April 24, 2000 file photo, Stan Kroenke discusses his purchase of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center during a news conference in Denver. Missouri billionaire Kroenke has decided to exercise his matching rights and try to purchase the remaining 60 percent share of the St. Louis Rams. Kroenke made the announcement late Monday April 12, 2010, the deadline for him to make this decision. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

AP

The Colorado Avalanche might need to look for a new owner soon, as the NFL seems primed to approve the sale of the St. Louis Rams to current Avs owner Stan Kroenke. The football league prohibits an owner of an NFL team from owning competitive sports clubs in the same markets that host NFL franchises; in other words, Kroenke owning the Avs means that he’s going up against the Denver Broncos. Here’s the word from the Denver Business Journal.

The National Football League appears to be moving toward approving sports magnate Stan Kroenke as the next owner of the St. Louis Rams and allowing him a grace period to sell basketball’s Denver Nuggets and hockey’s Colorado Avalanche, sources say, despite the league’s prohibition against owners controlling teams in other NFL markets.

To whom Kroenke would sell the Denver teams is unclear, the sources said, and the NFL has not yet signed off on whether the clubs could transfer to his family members.

This situation is in flux, but there’s clearly a good chance that Colorado will see a new owner - even if it’s just a different Kroenke - once this is decided. Perhaps the team’s hordes of young prospects and unexpected playoff run will help them be a more desirable team to own? Obviously they have a ways to go before they re-establish themselves as one of the NHL’s best organizations, but they must be at least slightly more valuable in 2010 than they seemed in, say, 2009.

We’ll keep you up to date as this situation progresses.