I live in Colorado and I’m a fan of two teams Kroenke owns, the Avalanche of the NHL and the Rapids of MLS, so I know a little bit about him. He’s a quiet guy who prefers to stay out of the spotlight and let the team management run the show.

He also owns the Nuggets, the Mammoth (a lacrosse team) the Pepsi Center (where the Avs, Nuggets and Mammoth play), just built a brand new state-of-the-art soccer complex for the Rapids, and is a part owner of the St. Louis Rams. They’re all successful operations. In short, the man knows what he’s doing.

Peter Hill-Wood will regret the day he made those nasty comments about Kroenke. If those comments did anything, they strengthened Kroenke’s resolve to buy the team. And When… Not If, but When… Kroenke does acquire Arsenal, it will be interesting to count how many times Hill-Wood’s butt bounces off the pavement after Kroenke personally throws him out the door of the Arsenal offices.

The debt factor… Arsenal already is in debt as a result of building that new stadium. Granted they aren’t in the hole as deep as my beloved Man United, but it’s still a pretty big hole and it’s true a Kroenke takeover would likely put the Gunners even deeper in it. But Kroenke simply doesn’t strike me as the kind of businessman who would be doing this if he truly didn’t think it would work.

Arsenal is this close to putting it all together and becoming a power house on the pitch. I can see these young Gunners winning a lot of silverware the next few years. That, along with that sweet new Premier League TV contract, would only generate even more income and help get Arsenal pointed back in the right direction financially.

Give Kroenke a chance. You might be surprised.

The TV rights fees commanded by the EPL in many TV markets outside the UK are perceived as “undervalued”.

The one particular market where the valuation is artificially low is mainland China, where GuangDong TV’s WinTV all-soccer pay TV channel (owned by the government of GuangDong province) was able to outbid NewsCorp/Rupert Murdoch-managed ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) at a price of only $50 million for 3 seasons.

Compared that to the $200 million for 3 seasons of EPL TV paid by PCCW’s NOW Broadband TV in Hong Kong, and you can see the disparity.

One trend is for certain: rights fee will go UP, and up significantly, in mainland China for the next TV contract cycle (2010/11 to 2012/13 seasons).

PS Fulham is already foreign owned