Chelsea Football Club Sold to U.S.-Based Investment Group for Record Breaking Amount

While it may not be the most popular sport in the United States, no sport has seen as much international success as soccer. Soccer, or football as it is referred to around the world, is played in virtually every country on the planet with each having their own respective football league featuring the country’s premier talent. Thus it is no surprise that soccer franchises are amongst the most valuable sports franchises in the world, with valuations consistently in the billions and only growing as each individual club builds upon the legacy they have been building for decades now. Yesterday, we received news that one of the biggest soccer clubs in the entire world had agreed on terms of a sale which will see Chelsea FC sold to a U.S.-based investment firm that values the club at over $5 billion USD.

It was a few months ago when Chelsea’s former owner Roman Abramovich announced he would sell the club amidst Russia’s, Abramovich’s home country, invasion of Ukraine. The move was shocking but not as shocking as what is taking place in Ukraine at the moment, and Abramovich seemingly hoped to distance himself as much as possible from the situation by absolving himself of his ownership of one of the most prominent football clubs in the world after his assets were frozen by the British government. A bidding war ensued over the past few weeks as a result to see who would become the new owners of Chelsea FC, and yesterday it was announced that a U.S.-based investment group led by Todd Boehly and backed by Clearlake Capital will purchase Chelsea for approximately $5.2 billion. The actual sale of the club was for roughly $3.1 billion which Abramovich pledged would go into a British bank account where it will then be repurposed for charitable causes, with Boehly’s group promising to invest an additional $1.75 billion on renovations which are seen by many as long overdue. Boehly additionally serves as a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and is joined by Mark Walter who is also a part of the group that purchased the Dodgers a few years ago and also serves as chairman of the baseball organization.

The U.K.’s Premier League sits atop the international totem pole of soccer, with Chelsea serving as one of the league’s flagship clubs. It is no surprise Abramovich got as much as he did for the club, with Chelsea’s sale being the most amount of money paid for a team in any sport. Now we will wait and see what direction the club’s new owners will elect to take Chelsea in and if it's enough to propel them to another Premier League championship in the near future