Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are the Premier League’s biggest disruptors in terms of how they do business at Chelsea – they appear to have adopted a ‘move fast and break things’ philosophy.
Since Boehly and Clearlake’s takeover in the summer of 2022, Chelsea’s spending – both in the transfer market and wage account – has been unprecedented in football.
It isn’t just the how much they have spent, it’s how they have spent it. Ultra-long contracts, an almost dogmatic focus on youth over experience, and a disregard for PSR have been the hallmarks of their reign.
Infographic explaining Profit and Sustainability Rules, otherwise known as PSR or FFP, in the context of Chelsea's finances
PSR infographic Credit: Adam Williams/GRV Media/The Chelsea Chronicle
Behind the scenes, Chelsea’s owners are trying to bring a US franchise sport-style approach to matchdays at Stamford Bridge.
A quarter of all seats at the ground are now categorised as ‘premium’, while Todd Boehly’s Vivid Seats company has tapped into the resale market, selling seats at exorbitant prices.
Commercially, Chelsea have gone backwards since the Roman Abramovich era.
Diagram illustrating the ownership of Chelsea, split between factions led by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali's Clearlake Capital
Chelsea ownership diagram Credit: Adam Williams/GRV Media/The Chelsea Chronicle
They are missing a front-of-shirt sponsor, which will hit their PSR situation by around £50m this season alone. What’s more, their sleeve deal with Fever has also collapsed.
Every penny counts for the Blues in their current predicament.
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Qualification for the lucrative Champions League would be the quantum leap they need, with Enzo Maresca’s side currently 4th in the Premier League table.
There has been more good news recently for Chelsea on the financial front. FIFA have announced the prize money for the revamped 2025 Club World Cup.
Speaking exclusively to The Chelsea Chronicle, Liverpool University football finance lecturer and industry insider Kieran Maguire explains the current lay of the land.
Chelsea ready to cash in as Club World Cup prize money confirmed
The Club World Cup financial pot is set to be worth £770m, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed.
Around £150m will be ringfenced for solidarity payments and the 32-team tournament will be lucrative for all involved, but the £770m figure is heavily weighted towards the 12 participating European clubs.
Group Team 1 Team 2 Team 2 Team 4
Group A Palmeiras FC Porto Al-Ahly Inter Miami
Group B Paris Saint-Germain Atlético Madrid Botafogo Seattle Sounders
Group C Bayern Munich Auckland City Boca Juniors Benfica
Group D Flamengo Espérance Sportive de Tunisie Chelsea Club León
Group E River Plate Urawa Red Diamonds Monterrey Inter Milan
Group F Fluminense Borussia Dortmund Ulsan Mamelodi Sundowns
Group G Manchester City Wydad Al-Ain Juventus
Group H Real Madrid Al-Hilal Pachuca RB Salzburg
Club World Cup group stage draw
The prize money is sourced almost entirely from DAZN’s international streaming deal for the event in the United States, though FIFA have also had some success with sponsorship for the tournament too.
Significantly, the media deal is effectively being subsidised by Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth.
DAZN recently received almost exactly the value of the deal from SURJ, the sports arm of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. In essence, the Saudis, who have a cosy relationship with FIFA have bailed them out.
For context, ITV have submitted a £0 bid for the UK television rights. That illustrates that the perception in the industry that the streaming rights have been wildly overvalued – nigh on artificially inflated.
But for Chelsea, as Kieran Maguire explains, this won’t matter one jot and the prize money on offer could be transformative for the Blues commercially and in terms of PSR.
“This is classic FIFA politics,” says the Price of Football author and podcast host.
Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images
Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images
“For all of Infantino’s faults, which we could spend a couple of hours discussing, he is good at working the room. He reaps the rewards for himself and FIFA off the back of that.
“US-owned Chelsea can see the benefits of playing a tournament in the US. Todd Boehly is a major cheerleader of the Club World Cup.
“Chelsea are also in a slightly better position than many clubs because they have got a bigger squad, which is more expensive than any other club in history.
Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
“They have got a couple of players out on loan, but they have got a call-back clause that kicks in on the 16th June. Ordinarily, those deals would be until the end of the season, which is 30th June.
“That will allow the likes of Joao Felix to play in this tournament, which isn’t generating a huge amount of interest in Europe. But are we too parochial? It could be that all the matches sell out.
“Chelsea are taking it seriously. They are running out of assets to sell to allow them to comply with PSR. The minimum participation fee is in their interests, so they will be approaching It more seriously than their peers.
“If there is going to be some Harlem Globetrotters-like teams at the tournament, that is going to be good for FIFA’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.”
Chelsea’s sponsorship issues persist
One quirk of the Club World Cup is that sleeve sponsors will not be allowed.
In one sense, that might spare Chelsea’s blushes, as it will draw attention away from the fact that they have been forced to replace their sleeve deal with Fever with a new one by Live Nation.
Fever, a London-headquartered events company, have ended their deal with Chelsea prematurely. It is unlikely that the West London club have received payment for the partnership in full.
“It looks unprofessional. It is very much a case of being blinded by the cheque,” says Maguire, expanding on the sleeve deal and the continued absence of a front-of-shirt partner at Stamford Bridge too.
“To be fair to Chelsea, they aren’t the first club this has happened to and they won’t be the last.
“You would think that, because the club has had its fingers burnt with WhaleFin and the question marks over their front-of-shirt situation, there would be more caution.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
“You have sold 90 per cent of your shirts at this stage in the season. You have the launch of the shirts in the summer and another rush around Christmas, but the rest of the season you don’t sell much at all except to tourists who come to visit the stadium.
“The sponsor doesn’t really care that much about the fans wearing the shirt, but the optics aren’t good regardless.”
Chelsea’s PSR situation as most expensive squad in history confirmed
Recently, UEFA’s annual football finance landscape report confirmed that Chelsea’s squad is the most expensive ever assembled.
The £1.5bn they have spent on players surpassed Real Madrid’s previous record.
With news that the Premier League is set to retain PSR for another season, how will the astronomical sums affect Chelsea’s PSR calculation?
Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images
Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images
“If the reports are correct, Chelsea’s women’s team wasn’t sold [to themselves] until the start of 2024-25,” says Maguire.
“So Chelsea must have been confident that player sales must have been enough to buy them another year’s grace in terms of PSR.
“They would have been the only team that anchoring would have tapered the spending of, although that was based on historic figures. It could be that going forwards they would have been okay.
“The issue with Chelsea is that, because they are in the Europa Conference League, they aren’t going to make much money even if they win it.
“The extra revenue compared to the PSR constraints that you have to operate within by virtue of being in a UEFA competition is, for a club the size of Chelsea, not worth the aggravation.
“That said, UEFA are imposing only nominal fines compared to the Premier League approach.”
Todd Boehly and Clearlake could simply accept UEFA PSR fine, says Kieran Maguire
In related news, Aston Villa are expected to have breached UEFA PSR in the most recent assessment period, while Chelsea are believed to be teetering on the edge – if not over the threshold already.
However, with Barcelona – who exceeded the threshold in 2022 – fined less than £1m, a fraction of their revenue, Maguire thinks Chelsea could simply accept a cash fine and move on.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Crucially, UEFA appear to be giving out financial fines as opposed to sporting sanctions, such as points deductions or transfer bans.
“Eyebrows were certainly raised when Barcelona were given a relatively modest fine for a breach of PSR or squad control rules by UEFA,” says Maguire.
“If this, is setting a precedent, wealthy owners of Premier League clubs will be absolutely delighted that this action is being taken.
Chelsea revenue infographic overlaid on a general image of Stamford Bridge
Chelsea revenue breakdown prepared by Adam Williams for the Chelsea Chronicle and GRV Media Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images
“I suspect they would like the Premier League to give financial penalties for financial misdemeanours.
“If a billionaire gets fined £50 for dropping chewing gum on the pavement, they will probably not be bothered if the financial penalty is almost immaterial in the context of their wealth.
“This is one we need to monitor with care and attention. It could be that compliance with domestic rules will actually be a bigger issue going forwards .
“We have certainly seen more significant penalties levied by the Premier League and EFL than we have by UEFA under this new system.”