The second round of bidding to become Chelsea's new owners draws to a close later today and all four shortlisted parties have said their offers will be cash only, effectively ensuring the club will not be saddled with debt under its new custodians.
An unprecedented fee for an English football club is guaranteed and the final amount may even surpass the record paid for an American franchise, the £2.52billion spent by Joseph Tsai for NBA franchise Brooklyn Nets in 2019, with experts saying the final total for Chelsea could be closer to £3billion.
But where the money exactly goes remains unclear. The profits are expected to either go to charities dedicated to victims of the war in Ukraine or be placed in an escrow account, where it will be frozen and held for an undetermined length of time - perhaps until Roman Abramovich is no longer on the UK government sanctions list.
READ MORE: Deadline day for Chelsea takeover bids
When the club was initially put up for sale at the beginning of March, the 55-year-old said that profits would go to a "charitable foundation" set up by his team that "will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine." The club refused to deny that a portion of that would go to Russian victims but there is still an intention for money to go towards
The government's stance and primary concern in relation to the transfer of ownership is that Abramovich does not make a penny from it. Earlier this week a Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) spokesman confirmed a story first broken by football.london on March 15 that they will not be naming a preferred bidder.
“The government has no role in establishing a preferred bidder for Chelsea Football Club," the spokesman said. "Assessments of owners and due diligence are a matter for the club and the Premier League, not the government. Our role is to consider an application for an amended licence that authorises a sale of the club when it comes forward with a preferred bidder.”
Raine Group, the New York-based merchant bank behind the sale, is planning to present a preferred bid to government next week with the intention of having the terms of its special operating licence altered to allow for a sale to proceed. From there the prospective new owner will need to satisfy the Premier League's owners and directors' test.
