Todd Boehly's tenure as Chelsea owner is well underway. In his short time at the club, the American has already made several brave decisions and it looks as though he's got his own vision of how the club should proceed moving forward.
Arguably, the biggest of those early calls was to sack Thomas Tuchel, who only lifted the Champions League less than two years ago. The German has been replaced by Graham Potter on a five-year contract. New signings have been tied down to long-term deals, whilst there's hope that many of the trusted existing players will be offered renewals.
Boehly's been bold. Not all of his choices will pay dividends, but it appears as though he sees a different future moving forward. Luckily for Chelsea, he's overseen a transition in sports before. Of course, this wasn't in England, nor was it in football, but the same principle applies.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the most mismanaged teams in American sports under Frank McCourt, the real estate developer who had bought the franchise and the surrounding Chavez Ravine land from Fox Entertainment Group seven years earlier.
Following a high-profile divorce in 2009, McCourt retained sole ownership of the Dodgers but Major League Baseball (MLB) assumed day-to-day control of operations less than two years later. The MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, expressed great concern for the finances and operations of the club, who had amassed a tremendous amount of debt during McCourt's tenure.
A group of investors that included Boehly, Mark Walter and basketball legend Magic Johnson completed a $2.15bn purchase of the franchise over a decade ago now, beating Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke with their bid in the process. Within two years, Boehly and Co. agreed to an $8.35bn deal between Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers to create SportsNet LA, a regional network carrying all Dodgers games.
Aside from restoring their financial situation, they've been equally as impressive on the pitch. They haven't missed out on MLB's postseason in nine years. More impressively, though, they've since beaten their franchise record for wins in a regular season (107).
No team had ever gone three consecutive full seasons with 106-plus wins, until the 2019-22 Dodgers, who did it every year except the Covid-19-shortened 2020 season, when they won 43 of 60 regular-season games. That season ended in success too, as the Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the final series in six games for their first championship since 1988.
The Dodgers have made history under Boehly's ownership. The blueprint for success has been set. Now it's down to Chelsea to strengthen the American's reputation.
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