NBA chairman Larry Tanenbaum eyes Chelsea FC consortia
The chairman of the National Basketball Association Larry Tanenbaum has joined one of the leading consortiums gearing up to takeover Chelsea FC.
Backing Steve Pagliuca’s offer for the London club, sources told Mark Kleinman for Sky News that Tanenbaum has joined the Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in backing the upcoming bid.
As well as chairing the National Basketball Association (NBA), the richest basketball league in the world, Tanenbaum also owns a host of North American sports teams, including the Boston Celtics NBA team.
It is believed that the former Bain Capital big dog attended Chelsea’s 6-0 win against Southampton at the weekend, and is in ongoing talks with the Stamford Bridge club.
Chelsea are currently the subject of a four-way bidding contest to buy the club from Roman Abramovich, who has also been sanctioned for his links to the Kremlin.
As it stands, three of the four bids are fronted by US sports investors – Todd Boehly, the Ricketts family and Stephen Pagliuca – while the other is believed to be backed by Americans Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who are already shareholders at Crystal Palace.
Chelsea are expected to fetch more than £2bn and could even set a record for the biggest deal for a sports team, if the value exceeds £2.5bn.