But is there any reason to believe he will continue to follow the Glazer model, withdrawing money from the club as if it were a giant ATM? Or is he suffering by association, simply because he is from Over There?
Kroenke remains tight-lipped about his plans, which is one reason why there was such a strong animus against him at Thursday's Arsenal annual meeting. Supporters object that he will not rule out the possibility of taking a dividend, and that he has not consulted them as much as he originally promised (a complaint rarely levelled at Roman Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan).
But aren't they just seeing ghosts behind every street light? Kroenke has no history of asset-stripping, even though his portfolio of seven major teams makes him the biggest individual sports owner in the world. While he might not throw money at his franchises, he does commit to sustainable management. Over the past 15 years his teams have won the Super Bowl, ice hockey's Stanley Cup, and the MLS, which isn't bad going.
If Arsenal's supporters are worried, then so are those of the St Louis Rams (who play the New England Patriots tomorrow in the annual NFL road game at Wembley). When Kroenke took full control of the team in 2010, many feared he would move it to the richer pastures of Los Angeles. Instead, he recently opened negotiations with the city of St Louis to revamp the Rams' existing stadium.
Sceptical Rams supporters continue to claim that Kroenke is only buying time while he prepares his exit route. Just as many Arsenal fans remain convinced that he is really a predatory capitalist, a cuckoo in the nest.
In both cases, Kroenke has refused to make any promises, so he could — in theory — be a cunning weasel who is about to perform a 180-degree turn. But it seems rather more likely that, as he told Telegraph Sport last year, "We are in it for the long term." The rest is just rumour and a very British pessimism.
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