Billionaire Kroenke Vaults to Top of U.S. Landownership Rankings After Massive New Mexico Ranch Buy

A quiet, off-market acquisition of more than 937,000 acres has made sports owner Stan Kroenke the largest private landholder in the United States, surpassing long-time leaders Ted Turner and John Malone.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

Billionaire sports and real estate magnate Stan Kroenke has become the largest private landowner in the United States after completing the biggest single land purchase in the country in more than a decade, according to a report by The Land Report.

Kroenke, the owner of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and England’s Premier League club Arsenal, quietly acquired more than 937,000 acres of ranchland in New Mexico in an off-market transaction involving property formerly held by the heirs of Teledyne founder Dr. Henry Singleton. The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, represents the largest private land transaction in the U.S. in over ten years.

The acquisition propelled Kroenke from fourth place to first on the 2025 Land Report 100, overtaking long-standing landowners including Ted Turner and John Malone. With the New Mexico purchase, Kroenke now controls more land than the Emmerson family’s 2.44 million acres, Malone’s 2.2 million acres, and Turner’s roughly 2 million acres.

Kroenke’s landholdings now span vast portions of the American West and Canada. His portfolio includes approximately 560,000 acres in Wyoming, 124,000 acres in Montana, the historic W.T. Waggoner Ranch in Texas, about 800,000 acres in Nevada, and the Douglas Lake Ranch in British Columbia.

Born in Columbia, Missouri, Kroenke built his fortune primarily through real estate development before expanding into professional sports ownership. In addition to the Rams and Arsenal, his sports holdings include the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, an heiress to the Walmart fortune.

The New Mexico acquisition further cements Kroenke’s decades-long expansion of ranching and land investments across the West, marking a significant shift at the top of U.S. private landownership rankings while underscoring the scale and concentration of land held by a small number of wealthy individuals.