Stamford Bridge has a massive new addition heading into next season as the owners continue to renovate the ground.
Although no decision has been taken over the long-term future of the club and its stadium, the new owners are continuing tomake changes to the aesthetics on show.
Chelsea made initial moves to add life to the ground that has been the club's home since being founded in 1905 when additional signs were added in the Shed End in the style of the former old stand. They have also looked to modernise areas of the stadium with new displays added outside the ground.
Having taken over the club more than 12 months ago now, and with the future of Stamford Bridge one of the key aspects of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital venture that many were most interested with, true moves forward are yet to be made.
Planning permission to make significant changes and rebuilding areas of the arena are not on the cards and moving site seems just as unlikely at this stage as well. Much like Roman Abramovich did in his final years, Boehly-Clearlake have found themselves tied down somewhat.
"It's one of the great questions that everyone is asking," said club director Jonathan Goldstein when asked about the options last year.
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"The fact that people need to be aware of is that there is no existing planning permission on the site," he added. "There was planning permission but it's lapsed so we have to start again. We're at the beginning of that process and obviously there's two alternatives. You either redevelop the existing stadium of you take it down and build a new one on the site.
"We're very tight at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea Pitch Owners are part of that process and we're going through our own educational process, we will then consult with fans and local authorities. I would hope that over the next 12 to 18 months you will be able to invite me back and I'll be able to tell you how we intend to take that forwards.
"We're really focused on understand the locality and understanding what we've got at Stamford Bridge and maximising the opportunity and the excitement for the fans."
Instead of making truly ground-breaking additions, the club have instead gone with a pleasing new sign over the West Stand which reads simply: "Chelsea Football Club."
Although it makes just a little difference to the overall look of the ground, it is an added piece of identity to one of the oldest and most recognisable stadiums in the country.
There is an overarching policy from Boehly when it comes to stadia, though. In 2019 he told Bloomberg: "The new stadiums that [English clubs] are building, they're starting to take an American approach to stadiums and making them environments. They were very utilitarian, historically, but now they're starting to think about themselves as 'lifestyle'.
"If you look at what Americans are good at, it's been building lifestyle within stadiums. Originally stadiums would be a place where you would go and then leave, just watch an event.
"Now they're starting to think about how do we entertain you earlier and how do we keep you longer. That obviously works on lots of levels — it drives the experience, it drives the economics, and it also takes away from the congestion of arrival and departure."
Chelsea are yet to make drastic steps towards this but as the owners' tenure goes on it is an issue that rumbles on in the background.
