LONDON – Chelsea will be sold to a consortium led by private owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Todd Boelli, ending 19 years of ownership and generous investment by Roman Abramovich, until the Russian oligarch was sanctioned and forced to unload the English club from the Premier League in the war in Ukraine.
The £ 2.5 billion ($ 3.1 billion) selling price for the current World Cup winner and European champion in 2021 is the most lucrative for a sports team worldwide, but Abramovich can’t get the revenue he needs. he hopes to go to the war victims’ foundation.
Another £ 1.75 billion ($ 2.2 billion) has been raised to invest in Chelsea’s teams and stadiums after two months of swift negotiations to sell the West London club after Russia invaded Ukraine.
After several competitive bids were rejected, Chelsea said on Saturday that the terms of the buyout had been agreed with a consortium that included Boehly with Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and private investment firm Clearlake Capital.
The Premier League must approve them as new property, and the government must sign the terms of a license that allows Chelsea to continue operating as a business until May 31, while one of Abramovich’s frozen assets.
Abramovich said he would write off more than 1.5 billion pounds ($ 1.9 billion) in loans to Chelsea, but this was complicated by sanctions imposed by the British government as part of the crackdown on wealthy Russians over President Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s country has positioned him as a potential peacemaker, but this trail has been publicly silenced in recent weeks and the billionaire has not condemned the war.
Chelsea, whose ability to sell match tickets and commit costs to new players has been hampered by sanctions, expects the sale to be completed by the end of May.
“The proceeds will be deposited in a frozen bank account in the United Kingdom with the intention of donating 100% to charitable causes, as confirmed by Roman Abramovich,” a statement from Chelsea said.
Boelli is already in London and attends Chelsea’s Premier League match on Saturday against Wolverhampton at Stamford Bridge. Thomas Tuchel’s team is third in the standings with four games left. The title is out of range, but qualification for the Champions League is almost guaranteed.
“I am not relieved,” Tuhel said of the future sale, “but it gives us a perspective on whether the terms have been agreed, and we hope that the process will be streamlined and continue as soon as possible.” Good news.”
Chelsea have the smallest and oldest stadium of the most successful clubs in the Premier League, with plans to rebuild the 41,000-seat stadium postponed by Abramovich in 2018 as British-Russian diplomatic tensions escalate.
Chelsea have said £ 1.75 billion will be used to fund investments at Stamford Bridge, the academy and the women’s team, which could win its league title on Sunday.
Boelli is part of the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise MLB and also has minority stakes in the Los Angeles NBA Lakers and the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.
The challenge will be to maintain the expectation of regular trophies produced in Chelsea’s costly transformation, with 21 collected in 19 years.
Chelsea won the league only once – in 1955 – when Abramovich bought the club in 2003. Backed by expensive signatures, the club won the Premier League two years later and added four more since then, most recently in 2017.
There is increased competition from wealthy owners to buy and retain players. In England alone, Manchester City have benefited from investments in Abu Dhabi since 2008, and Newcastle was bought by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund last year.
No details have been given about the future daily leadership of Chelsea, which was the first Premier League club to benefit from a mega-rich foreign investor in 2003.
Boelli, who studied at the London School of Economics, co-founded the investment firm Eldridge Industries in 2015 and served as its chairman and CEO. The private holding company has investments in more than 70 businesses, including sports, entertainment and the media.
In addition to the Los Angeles teams, Boehly has minority stakes in e-sports organization Cloud9 and DraftKings, an American fantasy sports betting company.
He is chairman of Security Benefit, a retirement solution provider based in Topeka, Kansas, and MRC, an entertainment company that finances and produces film and television programs, including major shows such as the Golden Globe, the American Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards.
Other MRC holdings include Penske Media, which owns Billboard, Rolling Stone, Variety and Hollywood Reporter.
Prior to co-founding Eldridge, Boehly was president of Guggenheim Partners. Walter, who teamed up with Boehly to buy Chelsea, is the CEO of the financial services firm.
Their first chance to see Chelsea win the trophy is next Saturday in the FA Cup final. Liverpool are rivals at Wembley Stadium.
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