The Ricketts family will immediately start work on redeveloping Stamford Bridge if they win the race to buy Chelsea — and insist they will continue playing at their historic home during its rebuild.
The owners of the Chicago Cubs have put a new stadium at the heart of their bid for the European champions. And they believe the construction process could be completed in five years, with developers looking to renovate on a stand-by-stand basis.
Standard Sport can also reveal that the Ricketts consider a new stadium critical to the future of Chelsea, have already enlisted architects so they can “hit the ground running”, are convinced they can keep the club competing for the biggest honours during the rebuild and are more focused on making the new Bridge the “best” stadium in the Premier League, even if not the biggest.
Eric Nordness headed up their £760million redevelopment of the iconic Wrigley Field in Chicago without re-homing the Cubs — and is determined to repeat that feat with Chelsea. He had already carried out extensive research on the Bridge as part of the Ricketts’ last attempt to buy out Roman Abramovich four years ago.
The US family are convinced they are better qualified than any of their rival bidders to successfully deliver a state-of-the-art stadium, given their experience with Wrigley Field, which was granted National Monument status.
“We have the template,” Nordness told Standard Sport. “I see so many eerie similarities, including the ground being next to the railway line, an urban, dense neighbourhood.
“It’s a stadium that holds about the same amount — we’re 41,500, they’re about 42,000. Stamford Bridge was first built in 1876 (the ground was completed a year later), the Cubs were formed in 1876.”
It took five years to renovate Wrigley — and the Ricketts family were determined to play at the stadium throughout. They are just as committed to keeping Chelsea at the Bridge during any planned works.
“It would have been easier [for the Cubs] to leave and play baseball somewhere else” said Nordness, who has been in London this week to carry out further research. “And it would have been less expensive.
“But we knew the connection the fans had to Wrigley Field, we understood what kind of pain this would be. We started construction in 2015. We won the World Series in 2016. Fans would have missed seeing it at Wrigley. Fans waited years for this. Generations. How horrible would that have been?
“Unequivocally, we do not want to leave Stamford Bridge. We think it is super important. It is going to be extremely hard, but we have done this before. Our priority and desire is to play every season at Stamford Bridge. We are the only ones (out of the bidders) that have done this and we know what the challenges are. I feel like we can do it.”
Rival consortiums fronted by Sir Martin Broughton and Todd Boehly are also looking at plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge without knocking down the entire stadium. Stamford Bridge will be one of the main topics of discussion when the four shortlisted groups meet Chelsea executives this week. A deadline of next Monday has been set for improved and final offers.
Chelsea and Raine Group, the US bank in charge of the sale, will then spend next week deliberating on which group to present as the preferred buyer to the Government in the week beginning April 18.
Opinions of fans and the local community will be sought by the Ricketts’ before any plans for Stamford Bridge are drawn up, but it is almost certain the rebuild will not follow the proposals for the 60,000-seater stadium laid out by Abramovich in 2015 and later abandoned. As a Chelsea fan of 20 years, Nordness is adamant the Bridge must retain its character.
“What I do know is we have to be at Stamford Bridge,” he said. “We have to respect the things that are really interesting and special about it. It has to be an intimate environment that has to be close to the pitch. It has to be unique compared to anything that has been done at Spurs or Arsenal — or Wrigley Field, or anywhere.
“You need the best experience — and size isn’t the ultimate arbiter of best. I think, particularly, intimacy to the pitch is important. You get the physicality of the game. The idea that you get as many people as close to the pitch as possible is really important.
“Looking at the stadium, we think it is critical that we redevelop Stamford Bridge. Our plans are to redevelop Stamford Bridge. We know what that road map looks like and we will go fast... and we will deliver. There is a path to five years and there is a path to double that, depending on how everyone wants to proceed.
“As soon as we can, like the minute, if we were to win this [bid], we would be on the ground to be moving forward and do all the things we need to do on the prep. We will hit the ground running fast. It is our job to be really efficient to get it to people as soon as possible.”
Crucially, Nordness and the Ricketts’ believe construction costs do not have to come at the expense of success on the pitch.
“We have a history of doing something very complicated and playing while under construction,” he added. “And while we did [it] we had the best success on the pitch we’ve ever had as a club.
“Not only did we end the World Series drought, we had the best five-year run of player and team performance having been in the play-offs in those five years in a row. We undoubtedly had the best performance ever while we played in it.”
