After a near two-month process the a packed field has finally been whittled down to a successful bidder.
The Todd Boehly-led consortium, which is being backed by Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss and US private equity firm Clearlake Capital, have been selected as the preferred bidder for the Stamford Bridge side in a deal that values the club at £2.5bn and has a commitment for another £1.75bn of investment into its infrastructure in the coming years.
The deal still needs to be approved by the UK Government and the Premier League, but that will likely be a swift process and the curtain will finally fall on the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea, an era that changed the landscape of English football.
A club statement that was released in the early hours of Saturday morning read: "Chelsea Football Club can confirm that terms have been agreed for a new ownership group, led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss, to acquire the club.
"Of the total investment being made, £2.5bn will be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100 per cent to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich. UK Government approval will be required for the proceeds to be transferred from the frozen UK bank account.
"In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the women’s team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation.
"The sale is expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals. More details will be provided at that time."
Ever since Russia's military invasion of Ukraine sparked international outrage and led to countries imposing sanctions on Russian businesses and oligarchs, Chelsea have been in disarray off the field after their long time owner Abramovich had his hand forced and had to give up the club that he arrived at back in 2003, a club where he changed the course of the Premier League and its relationship with the transfer market.
Chelsea were willing spenders on wages and transfer fees, and while Abramovich's tenure at the club that spanned almost two decades delivered two Champions League titles, five Premier League titles and five FA Cup triumphs there is little doubt that without the willingness of Abramovich to underwrite the losses to the tune of £1.5bn then the playing field would have altered somewhat. Abramovich, whose historic close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin made him a target for sanctions from UK Government, agreed to write off those debts, but with football having had to ask itself some difficult questions around where the money comes from and how it can be impacted by geo-political factors at play at any given time, finding another Abramovich was never an option.
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It is the UK Government will have the final say over the sale of Chelsea after a bidding process that was led by investment advisors Raine Group, and a field that had included figures such as New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and British property tycoon Nick Candy, a consortium led by former Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton, a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers shareholder Boehly, and a group that consists of Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts Family, who had been joined in their efforts by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and US hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, now has its winning bidder. A late bid from INEOS founder and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who owns OGC Nice in France, was not considered after missing the deadline.
The Boehly group will arrive at Stamford Bridge with an American viewpoint on sport, and with plenty of demonstrable experience in investing in major sports teams, with Boehly having stakes in both the Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers NBA team. They will also all be well know to Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group through FSG's ownership of the Dodgers' Major League Baseball rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
Boehly, Wyss and Walter have backing from Clearlake Capital, an investment firm that has some $60m worth of assets under management. While there is a commitment to investment in infrastructure and development, as is the case across the bids, this is also very much a business move, not a very expensive hobby that Abramovich treated it as, a hobby where he was more than willing to lose money.
And this is where the step change for Chelsea will come in, one that will likely see them try and ape what FSG have done at Liverpool. The issue that these consortiums, cobbled together through their wealth and desire to take advantage of a rare opportunity to acquire a major global sporting team for what is seen as a bargain investment given the strength of the Premier League's global reach and its trajectory as a business, is that a culture change will be needed.
Buying smarter and finding a strategic business plan that underpins success is something that FSG introduced at Liverpool 12 years ago, and it is something that has served them well. While keeping pace with the spending of the Abramovich-owned Chelsea and Manchester City, backed by the Emirati wealth of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been a challenge, the approach to strategy, investment in people and into infrastructure has enabled the Reds to push well past Manchester United and Arsenal, two clubs with wealthy American owners but with a complete lack of strategic thinking when it comes to creating a successful football team.
Boehly has been said to be data driven, a fan of an analytical approach. That is something that has been part of Liverpool's DNA for more than a decade and something that has seen plenty of investment in terms of both time and money. The Reds also have been tweaking and honing that for a long time, and data analytics was something Henry was on to when Billy Beane was pioneering it in baseball at the Oakland Athletics 20 years ago.
FSG knew all the players involved in the Chelsea takeover talks, and they knew all about FSG and how they have approached their time in sports team ownership. They will undoubtedly be looking to mirror some of what has been done already in a bid to reclaim the ground that Liverpool have made on them, pushing Chelsea beneath them in the race to be the kings of English football.
The level of spending will likely be more restrained that it was under Abramovich whoever comes in. The bottom line will mean more and there will be a return that is sought on these investment, likely through the continued growth in value of top Premier League clubs as businesses. But they will also be adept at bringing on board new investment opportunities through the varied business portfolios that they run, which may well mean that Chelsea's revenues rise considerably and are able to better prop up sustainable spending.
For FSG, however, they do have the upper hand. They are 12 years into this now. They know how the Premier League works, they know what the strategy is and they have the appropriate structure and people in the building to deliver that, whether that is Ian Graham, Michael Edwards or Jurgen Klopp. They are also pulling in the same direction and haven't been hastily thrown together at the last minute to try and impress those who will make the final call on who takes over. FSG have brought on board private investment, but that has been through RedBird Capital acquiring an 11 per cent, market leaders when it comes to private equity in sport, and the simpatico relationships that have been forged with LeBron James, an FSG partner and his long-time business partner Maverick Carter through the FSG/RedBird/Nike investment into SpringHill Entertainment, as well as strong relationships with one of the world's most progressive brands in Nike, means that Liverpool remain well positioned.
FSG have made mistakes at Liverpool, some pretty big ones, but as they move into a new phase as a business, and with new minds on board to aid innovation, they remain, arguably, the best positioned to deliver sustained and sustainable success. The ownership of Manchester City and the recent controversial takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund does mean that open wallet policies remain, but football will soon find itself pushing for a way to marry success on and off the pitch, and there will be a lot of US money driving that forward. Liverpool's advantage is that they have been round the block a few times by now and have the blueprint, they just need to make sure they remain the vanguard.
The new ownership at Chelsea will want to emulate what FSG have done at Liverpool, a model that has turned them from the chasing pack into the leaders of the pack, a team on course for an unprecedented quadruple. But success doesn't happen overnight and a culture change will be required. That takes time, money and patience.
