Boehly: Chelsea worth more now than £2.5bn we paid
Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly believes the club is worth more now than the record £2.5bn his consortium paid to acquire them in summer 2022.
The Blues have not won a trophy or qualified for the Champions League since the takeover, while Boehly’s group has spent more than £1bn on new players.
But asked whether Chelsea had increased in value in that time, Boehly told Bloomberg: “Yeah, I would say yes.”
He added: “I think the trend is our friend in this industry. I think the opportunity to be able to grow the fanbase around the world, because, unlike American sports, we have the ability to grow internationally and build our own revenue base on that international fanbase. So I think the opportunity is enormous.
“I think the Premier League is sitting in a great place. I mean, one of the frustrating things as Chelsea owner is that the Premier League has become so competitive.
“But one of the great things about being in the Premier League is it’s gotten so competitive, so the depth and the quality of the teams are unlike any other league in Europe or anywhere in the world.
“So I think the whole element of what’s going on, because I know that it’s not really a derivative of, ‘did it win last year or did it win this year?’ I mean, this is a club that just celebrated its 120th anniversary.”
Boehly plays down tensions with Clearlake
Boehly and majority shareholder Clearlake Capital have not always seen eye to eye, but he insisted that reports of tensions in the ownership had been exaggerated.
“What the media writes about is ‘exciting’ but I just don’t think it’s realistic. If you look at the evolution of the team, we’ve been aligned on what we’re trying to do and build,” he said.
“It’s a team that’s young, that has long contracts, and all of those things were new. In order to do all those things, it’s obviously because we’re aligned. If you look at what’s actually happening you’ll see there’s core stability and ultimately we’re executing on a play that will have Chelsea where it belongs.
“We’re sitting top four in the [Premier League] table right now. The status quo is something that’s just fine. I think we’ve learned from each other, and I think we’re really going to be able to work it out any which way.”
Boehly did concede that the owners may be split on the question of how to get Chelsea into a bigger stadium than their current 40,000-capacity home Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea ‘will build a new stadium’
Redeveloping their historic base or moving to a new site – potentially Earls Court – are believed to be the most likely options, although neither is proving straightforward.
“We have a big stadium development opportunity that we have to flush out, and I think that’s going to be where we’re either aligned or we ultimately decide to go different ways,” he said.
“But again, I think that what’s been written and what’s been talked about is much more drama than what is actually happening.
“Development is going around the world right now; stadium development is definitely a theme. You’re going to see the NBA go to Europe. You’re going to see they need stadiums. They need arenas. You know, sporting infrastructure. I think we’re just on the very front end of the sporting wave, and sporting infrastructure is going to be a big thing about it.
“We have 16-20 years to figure it out. Obviously, inside of London, it’s really complex, but it’s not as if we’re building something in the middle of a rural environment. So we have a lot of constituencies to make sure that we care about – certainly, the Chelsea fan base is one – but long term, I think we’re going to be building something new, and we’ll figure it out.”