Since taking over as Chelsea owner, Todd Boehly has already begun making his mark at Stamford Bridge, but his plans for the stadium itself could play a part in his legacy.
Back in March, when the American was shortlisted as a potential buyer but had yet to take over from Roman Abramovich, Boehly's attitude towards the stadium became clear. Not only that, but his stance on football stadiums in a wider sense had been established long before he was even in the running to replace the Russian at the helm.
Now he's in place as owner, and the first big transfers for Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly have been completed, attention has turned towards Boehly's plans for one of the Premier League's oldest home grounds. And, according to the latest reports, the 48-year-old is looking into redeveloping the stadium one stand at a time.
The Sun reports that, under Boehly's ownership, Chelsea will upgrade and replace the stands in a set order. The project would see the hotel at the Shed End bulldozed to make way for the upgraded stadium.
The owner has reportedly hired architect Janet Marie Smith, who led the renovation of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles among other sporting venues. Boehly is a part owner of the LA Dodgers in addition to his role at Chelsea.
While the new owner's plans would see the Blues remain at their current ground, Abramovich had looked into building a brand new stadium for the London club. An application was submitted for a stadium at Battersea Power Station, while other locations were also explored.
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“The new stadiums that [English clubs] are building, they’re starting to take an American approach to stadiums and making them environments,” Boehly told Bloomberg back in 2019. “They were very utilitarian, historically, but now they’re starting to think about themselves as ‘lifestyle’.
"If you look at what Americans are good at, it's been building lifestyle within stadiums. Originally stadiums would be a place where you would go and then leave, just watch an event.
"Now they’re starting to think about how do we entertain you earlier and how do we keep you longer. That obviously works on lots of levels — it drives the experience, it drives the economics and it also takes away from the congestion of arrival and departure.”
In March this year, meanwhile, the Evening Standard reported on conversations between Boehly and Smith as well as the involvement of other individuals regarding the potential stadium redevelopment. David Hickey was also reportedly consulted, having served as project director when Abramovich looked into redeveloping the stadium, as was property developer Jonathan Goldstein.
