A consortium headed by American businessman Todd Boehly are set to be confirmed as the preferred bidder to buy Chelsea. According to reports, the group have also reportedly agreed a period of exclusivity to negotiate the takeover.
The US tycoon is no stranger to the sporting world, he owns stakes in US baseball franchise the LA Dodgers, US women’s basketball team Los Angeles Sparks as well as the LA Lakers. Boehly is keen to expand his sports portfolio and made a £2.4 billion bid to buy Chelsea in 2019 which was rejected by Roman Abramovich.
Boehly has a reported net worth of £4.72 billion, however his ownership of the Dodgers has been called into question. As per the Daily Mirror, ahead of the 2021 season they were the side with the highest luxury tax and also spent the most money on wages in Major League Baseball.
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Last year they had a £212million payroll, which is the second-highest in the history of MLB behind the £217million they spent on salaries in 2015. Boehly's acquisition of his Dodgers stake also courted controversy after he led one of the most sizeable collateralised loan obligation transactions in history to secure his 20 percent share.
He essentially took out a loan to buy part of the franchise using the Dodgers money to pay it. Which is reminiscent of how the Glazer family bought Manchester United in 2005, a subject that has been a cause of concern and frustration amongst large swathes of their support for the duration of their ownership.
