Ask anyone in sports business about Chelsea’ Todd Boehly and they’ll tell you he is a visionary who can see around corners and is a hawk when it comes to smart investments.
It’s a characterisation that is oceans apart from how the private equity titan is portrayed in the British press, where he is seen as the bumbling, bombastic American bulldog with more money than sense.
The truth is somewhere between the two extremes. Todd Boehly’s record at Chelsea has been far from flattering but you don’t get where he has without a potent mix of ruthlessness, genius and humility.
Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
As far as billionaires go, Boehly is pretty self-made. He is from a relatively affluent background, yes, but now presides over a highly diversified empire of sports, insurance and tech assets worth £6.5bn.
That includes his 13 per cent stake in Chelsea, who he bought in a consortium with Clearlake Capital in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth – the headlines said – £4.25bn.
In reality, the transaction with Roman Abramovich – or the representatives handling the sale after his assets were frozen by the UK government – was worth far less than that.
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
Incidentally, the proceeds from that sale, which were earmarked for humanitarian causes, are still frozen in a UK escrow account to this day.
At £4.25bn, the takeover would have been the most expensive in sports history at the time, but the value quoted in the press was a fugazi.
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£1.75bn of that figure was ringfenced for investment in the Blues and did not change hands in the deal, which saw Boehly’s fellow private equity titans Behdad Eghbali and Mark Walter buy into the club too.
How Chelsea’s owners rank among football’s richest
Club owner Rank in top 500 richest people Net worth Club(s)
Bernard Arnault 4 $189B Paris FC
Mark Mateschitz 80 $23.4B Red Bull clubs
Stan Kroenke 85 $22.8B Arsenal, Colorado Rapids
Philip Anschutz 86 $22.8B Los Angeles Galaxy
David Tepper 87 $22.4B Charlotte FC
Francois Pinault 90 $22.1B Stade Rennais
Dietmar Hopp 112 $18.4B 1899 Hoffenheim
Jim Ratcliffe 200 $12.4B Man United, Nice, Lausanne
Hansjoerg Wyss 218 $11.9B Chelsea, Strasbourg
Josh Harris 224 $11.7B Crystal Palace
Simon Reuben 227 $11.5B Newcastle United
David Reuben 228 $11.5B Newcastle United
Dmitry Rybolovlev 246 $11.1B AS Monaco
Mark Walter 252 $10.9B Chelsea, Strasbourg
Dan Friedkin 253 $10.9B AS Roma, AS Cannes, Everton
Shahid Khan 307 $9.33B Fulham
Nassef Sawiris 324 $8.95B Aston Villa, Vitoria
Daniel Kretinsky 402 $7.69B West Ham, Sparta Prague
Joe Lewis 405 $7.66B Tottenham
Todd Boehly 426 $7.28B Chelsea FC, Strasbourg
Richest private owners in football, Sourced from Bloomberg Billionaires Index
A fair whack of that cash has been injected into Chelsea via equity to cover operating expense and the gargantuan, £1bn recruitment drive that the new owners have sanctioned over the last three years.
Chelsea have also taken out £500m worth of debt with Ares, one of the world’s biggest investment firms who, by extension, effectively have a place in the club’s corporate structure despite owning no shares.
The club also has almost £500m worth of transfer debt and – in the story of the week – will at some point need possible three or four times that to build a new stadium or expand Stamford Bridge.
An infographic contrasting Chelsea's matchday income at Stamford Bridge with that of their Premier League rivals, overlaid against a general image of the stadium
Chelsea matchday income and planned stadium capacity infographic Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images
In short, Chelsea have spent heavily and have more or less committed to spending even more heavily in the future, with all of the anxiety in terms of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) that entails.
Granted, Enzo Maresca, Laurence Steward and Paul Winstanley have droves of young talent tied down to long-term deals, locking in their value.
If latest signing Geovany Quenda comes good, for example, the Blues have protected themselves with the 17-year-old’s seven-year deal and can finesse their player trading model on that basis.
But this model – lobbied for by Boehly in his role as chairman – places a huge amount of faith in a recruitment strategy which, to date, has had very mixed results.
The above is a roundabout way of saying that Chelsea are probably in a worse place since the takeover, though Boehly’s latest comments suggests he believes different.
Todd Boehly says Chelsea now worth more than before Clearlake takeover
Since May 2022, Boehly’s public appearances as the face of Chelsea have become more and more frequent, despite some reports suggesting he is essentially a lame duck as chairman.
In his latest outing, Boehly spoke to Bloomberg about the rift between his ownership faction and Clearlake, which he says is exaggerated, as well as the future of Stamford Bridge.
The main headline, of course, centred on the future direction of the ownership.
“The status quo” is a fine place to be, he said, but also suggested that the stadium plans could see Clearlake and he go their separate ways in time.
Interestingly on that topic, Boehly believes, if he was to sell his stake to Eghbali or anyone else tomorrow, he could actually get a markup on the £2.5bn deal the consortium completed three years ago.
“I think the trend is our friend in this industry,” the 51-year-old, whose club has lost almost £400m since the takeover, told Bloomberg.
Rank Club Value 1-yr change Owners
17 Manchester United $6.2B +4% Glazer family
18 Real Madrid $6.06B +16% Club members
35 FC Barcelona $5.28B +7% Club members
40 Liverpool $5.11B +8% Fenway Sports Group
46 Bayern Munich $4.8B +8% Club members
51 Manchester City $4.75B +7% Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
61 Paris Saint-Germain $4.05B +19% Qatar Sports Investment
65 Arsenal $3.91B +9% Stan Kroenke
74 Tottenham Hotspur $3.49B +9% Joe Lewis family trust, Daniel Levy
75 Chelsea $3.47B ±0% Todd Boehley, Clearlake Capital
Source: Sportico top 100 most valuable clubs
“The opportunity to try and grow the fanbase around the world is big. Unlike American sports, we have the ability to grow internationally and grow our own revenue base on top of that.
“So I think the opportunity is enormous. The Premier League is sitting in a great place. One of the great things – and one of the frustrating things – is that the Premier League is becoming so competitive.
The depth in the quality of the teams are unlike any other league in the world. It [value] is not derivative of whether or not they won last year. This is a club that just celebrated its 120th anniversary.
“I would say, yes [it’s more valuable than we paid for it].”
Chelsea in mix for £130m Club World Cup prize, John Terry hails ‘mega’ finance opportunity
To justify a valuation of £2.5bn and well beyond, there will need to be some pretty fundamental changes both at Chelsea and the wider football ecosystem.
The arms race that has taken place in the transfer ecosystem and retention and market means costs have spiralled much faster than revenues have risen – and more so at Chelsea than most.
One new revenue source that can help offset this and bolster the Blues’ PSR situation is the new-fangled Club World Cup, which Maresca will take his side to in the United States in the summer.
Chelsea’s Club World Cup draw
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
This week, FIFA have confirmed that a staggering £780m will be shared among the 32 participants in prize money, with that pot weighted towards European clubs like Chelsea.
If Chelsea go all the way in the knockout tournament, they will take home the lion’s share of £130m. It’s a monumental prize fund which, fundamentally, has essentially been artificially created by Saudi Arabia.
Former Chelsea captain John Terry has been on the ambassadorial circuit for FIFA recently and, echoing the sentiments of Didier Drogba a few months ago, has talked up the financial opportunity for clubs.
“This is an opportunity that financially is mega for every club involved, let alone if you go on and win it,” Terry told talkSPORT last week. “To participate, it’s big financials.
“I think we have to be careful in terms of player welfare and stuff like that because being ex-players, we have to support that.
“Can there be a break mid-season? I think there should be. You played two, three games a week around the Christmas period and it’s really busy.
“Then in February, March, April, you play Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. You could easily just throw a couple of games in there as well.
“But I think in terms of players, like for me, six years retired, I’d love to still be playing. I’d love to go back and say, ‘I wish I had 60, 65 games a season.'”