Los Angeles Rams president Kevin Demoff was named president of team and media operations for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment on Thursday.
The promotion means he will help oversee Colorado’s KSE-owned sports teams in addition to the Rams: the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids and Colorado Mammoth.
Basketball operations and hockey operations involving the Nuggets and Avalanche will not be significantly impacted by the maneuvering of corporate titles, according to Josh Kroenke, governor of both franchises and son of owner Stan Kroenke. The Nuggets don’t currently have a president of basketball operations presiding over general manager Calvin Booth, and the team doesn’t intend to reintroduce that position in the near future. The Avs will also remain relatively untouched with Joe Sakic serving as president of hockey ops and Chris MacFarland serving as general manager.
In other words, the appointment of Demoff just adds one more executive to the room of decision makers.
“Initially, there’s not gonna be hardly any change. We’re just going to be including Kevin in certain conversations,” Josh Kroenke said. “… Calvin has done an unbelievable job since he stepped in (after) Tim Connelly’s departure a year and a half ago now. Specific from a president of basketball operations title, those titles are earned over time. I think Calvin has done an amazing job. We have no plans to put anyone on top of Calvin. … Joe was our general manager for a long time on the hockey operations side and gradually worked into a different role. … Our structure isn’t going to change.”
Demoff will also oversee Altitude TV, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network that broadcasts Nuggets and Avalanche games, and will report to Josh Kroenke. Matt Hutchings, who previously oversaw Altitude as chief operating officer and executive vice president at KSE, resigned from the company in February amid the ongoing standoff between Altitude and Comcast, Colorado’s largest cable provider. Comcast has not carried Altitude TV since 2019, preventing local customers from watching the majority of Nuggets and Avalanche game broadcasts.
Demoff’s responsibility in regard to the Rams will not change or diminish, he said. He will be based in both Los Angeles and Denver.
Mike Neary was also announced as KSE’s new executive vice president of business operations and development. Based in Denver, Neary will oversee venues such as Ball Arena and DICK’S Sporting Goods Park, reporting to Josh Kroenke as well. He inherits real estate ventures including the company’s plan to repurpose 55 acres of parking lots surrounding Ball Arena, as well as development of Kroenke-owned land in Commerce City.
New practice facilities for the Nuggets and Avalanche are components of KSE’s planning for the space around Ball Arena, but Josh Kroenke was unable to provide a specific timeline update Thursday. He hinted that he has seen designs for the development area.
“There’s a lot of complicated and complex things we need to work through to deliver on the future practice facility,” Neary said. “We are underway. We are in process with the big lift that it takes to get the entitlement work done for that project. That project in and of itself will allow us to then dictate building positioning, building sizes, building placements down the road.”
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
