Confirmation of the Boehly-led takeover marks the beginning of a new era for Chelsea at a time of high tension within European club football.
So the deal is approved and a new era begins at Stamford Bridge. So long as the criteria of the sanctions were met, there was never much doubt that this was going to happen. Todd Boehly and the others who passed through football’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test would never have failed it, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they should. But as the announcement that the final hurdles to this takeover have been cleared marks the end of the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea, so another begins. Chelsea are set to become a very different club in some respects, but what might this look like?
Boehly’s recipe for success with the LA Dodgers, the underachieving baseball team whose potential he unlocked, was blunt. Big spending, based on huge revenue increases. He was able to sell rights for the Dodgers for a staggering amount of money ($7bn, early in 2013), and this, combined with huge ticket price increases, allowed the team to buy its way back to success. This is, of course, a fundamental change to the way in which the club was run under its previous ownership, when big spending was ultimately underwritten by the owner himself.
It’s the huge revenue increases that cause the raising of an eyebrow, because that money has to come from somewhere, at some point. Chelsea have been, based on near-perpetual Champions League football and being near the top of the Premier League table, a loss-making organisation. Add in all the commercial deals and other accompaniments and still Roman kept having to put his hand in his pocket, to a lesser or greater extent. This season, for the record, they made £43.4m from Champions League TV and prize money and £155m in domestic TV and prize money.
So, what happens next? Chelsea’s season tickets aren’t particularly expensive, by the standards of the biggest clubs in London. This…
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