sport news Chelsea: It's the $5bn question... can US moguls make the numbers stack up? trends now
The five billion dollar question today — and that sum is slightly less than Todd Boehly’s successful £4.25billion bid to buy Chelsea — is how will the American make the numbers stack up?
The 46-year-old co-owner of the LA Dodgers baseball team and his consortium will pay £2.5bn for the club and have pledged a further £1.75bn in investment in the coming years, largely in infrastructure, not least a remodelling and expansion of Stamford Bridge.
It is not easy to see how Chelsea will be able to sustain the consistent trophy-winning success of the Roman Abramovich era since 2003 while also providing a return on the investment for Boehly’s group.
Todd Boehly will hope to sustain consistent trophy-winning success during his Chelsea era
Abramovich is owed almost £1.6billion by Chelsea, a debt he has insisted he will wipe clean
Abramovich is owed almost £1.6bn by Chelsea, a debt he insists he will wipe clean, specifically because he has spent far more on buying and paying players over the past 19 years than the club has generated in income.
He has spent more on Chelsea wages in that period (£3.5bn) than any other club in the same timeframe, ahead of Manchester United’s £3.3bn and Manchester City’s £3.2bn. He also spent more on transfers since 2003 (£2.2bn), ahead of City (£2.1bn) and United (£1.7bn).
The dilemma for Boehly and colleagues now is simple: do they cut spending to keep the finances in shape, but inevitably decline in on-pitch quality? This risks dropping out of a top four where at least seven clubs will expect to be contending in the near future: City, Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, the Saudi Arabia-funded Newcastle and Chelsea themselves.
Chelsea splashed out £2.2bn under Abramovich since 2003, higher than both City and United
Merely dropping the Champions League to the Europa League comes at a huge cost. Participation in the former typically earns £100million a year and
