Richard Masters has addressed Chelsea's controversial £200m sale of their women's team to BlueCo for the first time
Richard Masters looking on before a Premier League match at Anfield
Richard Masters has addressed Chelsea 'loophole'(Image: Getty Images)
Richard Masters has firmly stated that Chelsea have not 'exploited a loophole' by selling their women's team to a sister company for £200m.
The move by BlueCo enabled Chelsea to adhere to PSR rules and post a pre-tax profit of £128.4m in the 2023-24 season. To put it into perspective, the sale price was many times more than the reported £30m Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris paid to buy 55% of Aston Villa in 2016.
Masters has now spoken on the issue for the first time after being questioned by Sarah Keig, a Fulham fan representative, at a Football Supporters' Association event.
"SK raised concerns about Chelsea Football Club selling their women's team for a reported £200m to pass profit and sustainability rules, thereby exploiting a loophole," the minutes of the meeting read.
"RM said the club hadn't exploited a loophole as what Chelsea did was permissible and he emphasised that all transactions are subject to a fair market value assessment.", reports Chronicle Live.
As Masters correctly noted, the deal remains subject to Premier League approval - just like the sale of two club-owned hotels did before the value of the transaction was reduced.
Chelsea have even confirmed that the agreement includes a clause requiring an 'adjustment to the consideration receivable in the event that the Premier League's determination of the fair market value differs from the £200m recognised'.
Chelsea's women's team may have only generated revenues of just over £11.5m in the 2023-24 season, but their potential has been recognised with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian purchasing a 10% stake for £20m.
Ohanian, who previously held the largest share in Angel City FC before their sale at £192.3m last year, has confidently stated that 'this will be a billion-dollar franchise one day'.
In April Bloomburg claimed Villa were considering selling a minority stake in their women's team but this has not yet happened, nor has the club ever confirmed that speculation.
What is clear though is that having lost Champions League revenue for next season, Villa will have to make up the shortfall or manage losses to comply with PSR year on year.
Earlier this month, the Premier League failed in its bid to prevent clubs from selling assets to sister companies to comply with PSR.
A proposal to close the loophole that allowed Chelsea to register a “profit” from selling hotels and their women’s team to a sister company did not even go to a vote at the Premier League’s annual meeting.
However, this investment in Chelsea's side could still influence Villa's valuation, as Stefan Borson, a former financial advisor to Manchester City, has pointed out.
Borson remarked, "If Chelsea's women's team is worth £200m, all of the value in the women's team that justifies £200m is about what the women's game looks like in 2050," and "It's not about what it looks like in 2025."
He further explained that early achievements in the women's game are less significant compared to the future prospects: "It's irrelevant in the formative years of the women's game that Chelsea won trophies because it's all about the future value. So if it's all about the future value of a top football club franchise in the women's game, that applies to almost any Premier League club regardless of their current size.
"Newcastle, Everton and Aston Villa's women teams are all worth over £100m on the Chelsea valuation metrics because it's not about what they have won so far or the revenue or the profit - it's about what they might be worth in 25 years' time with a football brand the equivalent of Chelsea's."
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