During Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States this past summer, Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, Edouard Mendy, Malang Sarr, Marcus Bettinelli and Jorginho took to the field at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles - home to owner Todd Boehly’s Major League Baseball team - alongside their new boss.
The setting is impressive - looking out onto the Chavez Ravine - and not least because Boehly’s ownership group has done plenty to improve the historic stadium and its grounds in the last decade. Similar plans could be about to feature in Chelsea’s future too.
There are plenty of reasons for Chelsea fans to be excited about Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s £4.15billion takeover - not least what might be in store for their Stamford Bridge home. The problem for Chelsea has historically been a lack of space.
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The capacity of the Blues’ long-established West London base is a touch over 40,000; Premier League top-four and European rivals can pack in a lot more than that, gorging themselves on the revenues that getting more fans in the door can bring. Previous owner Roman Abramovich had plans for a £1 billion redevelopment of the Bridge site but that planning permission lapsed in 2020.
As such, Chelsea - under new ownership but still keen to grow their home ground - are back to square one. Boehly’s Chelsea co-owner Jonathan Goldstein spoke to Bloomberg last week about the club’s plans to develop the site. And while the stadium redevelopment is not thought to be an immediate priority, plans are certainly under way to improve the site in the medium term.
It was revealed in the Mail on Sunday that Stoll - a housing provider to vulnerable armed forces veterans - is putting the majority of a two-acre plot next to Stamford Bridge up for sale. The Sir Oswald Stoll mansions currently feature 157 homes but an announcement of a new buyer for up to 60% of the plot - around 1.2 acres - is thought to be due before the end of the year.
The football club is reported to have registered interest although it will have to see off rival bids including a proposed apartment building scheme. It was previously reported that a £50million deal had been agreed between Stoll and the previous Chelsea owner for the sale of the plot before plans for a rebuild were put aside in 2018.
Now, however, it looks like those plans could be taken forward with the new ownership group pledging to commit around £1.75billion in investment towards Chelsea - including the stadium - over the next decade as part of the sale agreed with Abramovich.
“There was a planning permission,” Goldstein told Bloomberg. “It’s lapsed, so we have to start again. We are at the beginning of that process. Obviously, there are two alternatives. You either redevelop the existing stadium or you take it down and build a new one on the site. We’re very tied to Stamford Bridge — the Chelsea Pitch Owners are part of that process. So we’re going through our own educational process. We will then consult with fans, consult with local authorities, and I would hope over the next twelve months, I will be able to tell you how [we will proceed].”
Goldstein is leading the stadium redevelopment and is reported to have enlisted the architect Janet Marie Smith to consult on plans. And in Smith, he will have on board one of the best in the business. She is a long-time veteran in redeveloping sports stadiums - in particular in Major League Baseball where she has worked with Boehly’s ownership group before on Dodger Stadium.
Smith became well known Stateside for her work around the Baltimore Orioles’ Oriole Park at Camden Yards. First opened in 1992, it was the first of MLB’s “retro” ballparks which integrated the existing cityscape into the design of the stadium grounds. It is the home of the south end of Eutaw Street - “a festive area” inside the stadium gates where ticketed fans are free to roam and enjoy the hospitality and concessions on offer. Eutaw Street sits between the ballpark B & O Railroad warehouse - which was due for demolition as part of the initial redevelopment but which was integrated into the redesign with concessions, souvenir stores and front offices installed.
Camden Yards is seen as the standard-bearer in MLB ballparks but Smith boasts plenty of success elsewhere. She oversaw the conversion of Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic stadium into the Braves’ Turner Field.
And while there were at one stage plans to knock down the iconic Fenway Park - home to the Boston Red Sox - Smith was brought on board to make it a modern and welcoming fan experience instead. Concourses were extended and enlarged; Jersey Street has been “annexed” for gameday.
The Dodger Stadium redevelopment - where more than £200million has been invested - is widely regarded as a top-notch project in its own right. The fan experience when visiting the Dodgers has been vastly improved - although it must be acknowledged that it’s come at considerable cost for ticket-holding fans - since the Boehly-led purchase in 2012.
There is now 360-degree circulation for fans around the third-oldest ballpark in MLB, stunning views from the new front door overlooking the ravine, as well as the jewel in the crown - the centerfield plaza. That’s before mentioning all the new restaurants, concourses, playgrounds and bars overlooking the playing area and bullpens.
And over the timeframe that Boehly and his co-investors have been involved, the Dodgers have gone from strength to strength on the field too. At the time of their purchase, the Dodgers were going nowhere under former owner Frank McCourt. However, since Guggenheim Partners bought the team for some $2.15billion, the Dodgers have got back to the top.
Boehly - who also owns stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and WNBA outfit the LA Sparks - for example oversaw a deal between the Dodgers and Time Warner to set up SportsNetLA - a regional network for fans to watch all Dodgers broadcasts. That netted some $8.35billion - money which was then reinvested into payroll.
That, in-turn, helped the Dodgers to compete once again for the best free-agent talent in MLB and they ended a 32-year wait for a World Series title in 2020. Chelsea fans will be hoping that Boehly - worth over £4billion according to Forbes - can repeat the trick at the Bridge.
He may have been ridiculed for his Premier League All-Star Game plans but there is no doubting his suitability for sports-team ownership. He’s proven that already.
There are already major reports detailing the new ownership group’s plans for recruitment with Christopher Vivell about to be announced as new technical director after leaving Red Bull, a new multiclub network worldwide headed by Tom Glick and now come these reports that the new Stamford Bridge project will soon be initiated by Goldstein.
The plans, thus far, are believed to involve rebuilding each stand one by one as well as demolishing the hotel on the Stamford Bridge site. All that work could well ensure that Boehly and Goldstein’s vision comes to life.
“So what you are trying to build with these teams, you are really trying to a) win and b) be part of the community,” Boehly has told Bloomberg.
With new signings already in the door - with the promise of hot property Christopher Nkunku to come - and plans afoot for Stamford Bridge, it’s fair to say that those two objectives are on track to being fulfilled.
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