sport news Chelsea owner Todd Boehly laid out his vision in New York speech trends now
Todd Boehly offered us some tantalising clues as to his vision for the future of Chelsea in a talk at the SALT Conference in New York this week.
The billionaire American businessman and investor led the consortium that completed a £4.25billion takeover of the Premier League club at the end of May.
Since then, Chelsea have spent over £270million on new players in the summer transfer window and sacked manager Thomas Tuchel amid a shaky opening to the season.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly sat down at the SALT conference in New York and partially outlined his blueprint for taking the club forward on and off the pitch
Boehly and fellow co-owner Behdad Eghbali (left) welcome new manager Graham Potter
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Boehly moved quickly to appoint Brighton manager Graham Potter on a five-year contract at the end of last week.
On Tuesday of this week, Boehly sat down to discuss his blueprint for taking the club forward. Here's what we learned.
A RELEGATION PLAY-OFF IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE
What he said: 'The Premier League is the top of the pyramid and every year you get three clubs that get relegated and three clubs that get promoted.
'So there is a giant distinction in that you always have to have a little bit of an eye on what is going on at the bottom of the table. Those relegation games are some of the highest broadcast games.
'Ultimately, I hope that the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and asks 'why don't we do a tournament?' The bottom four teams.'
The idea: Boehly appears to be suggesting that instead of the current three-up, three-down system of relegation and promotion between the Premier League and the Championship, the bottom four top-flight sides should enter an end-of-season tournament to determine who survives.
Given Boehly has stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and the LA Lakers basketball franchise, he will be well aware the concept of relegation is an alien one in US sports.
Chelsea are unlikely to ever be involved but Boehly wants to see a relegation play-off
But he seems to want to apply the post-season play-off format that is used in the NBA, MLB and NFL to determine the champions to the bottom end of the Premier League.
He didn't elaborate on precisely how it would work and whether one of the teams down the bottom of the Premier League would end up playing a high-ranking Championship team, as happens in Germany and France.
While struggling sides would no doubt welcome a last chance to save themselves - especially those who finish well adrift at the bottom - it would be going against decades of tradition in the English game to bring it in.
And is it right that a club like Norwich, who finished 16 points shy of safety last season, get a final shot at survival having been so poor?
There's no doubting Boehly's idea would create greater drama - just look at how good the EFL play-offs are - and boost broadcasting revenues though.
Clubs like Norwich City may welcome a final shot at survival if they finish bottom of the table
NORTH VERSUS SOUTH ALL-STAR GAME
What he said: 'Why isn't there an All-Star Game? People are talking about money for the pyramid. In LA this year in MLB, we made $200m from a Monday and a Tuesday. So you could do a north versus south all-star game for the PL and fund whatever the pyramid needs very easily.'
The idea: Taking a leaf out of the NBA, NFL and MLB is Boehly's very American suggestion that the Premier League stage an annual All-Star Game, perhaps featuring a North versus South divide.
He posits that the money from ticket sales be used to fund the EFL and non-league clubs further down the English football food chain, pointing out the MLB edition raked in $200m [£173m] last year.
That money would certainly have a considerable trickle-down effect to clubs and leagues below the Premier League.
Would Liverpool and Man United stars want to turn out alongside each other for the All-Stars?
Many fans gave the idea short shrift, as did the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who replied sarcastically that Boehly 'should invite the Harlem Globetrotters'.
But the German was probably thinking about the practicalities. Firstly, when would this fixture be squeezed in to an already full-to-bursting football calendar in England?
One possibility is that the All-Star Game could replace the Community Shield as the traditional curtain-raiser to the new campaign, which isn't the worst idea.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wasn't too impressed by Chelsea owner Todd Boehly's suggestion that the Premier League should stage a 'North vs South All-Star Game'
More problematic, as Klopp alluded to, is persuading players from rival clubs such as Man United, Man City and Liverpool, or Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, to effectively call a truce to play alongside each other.
It isn't exactly the same as being called up to represent England or another country, where club loyalties are usually put to one side in the national interest.
Players are unlikely to feel as passionately about arbitrary teams like 'North' or 'South'. Also, what about the 'Midlands'?
NETWORK OF PARTNER CLUBS AROUND THE WORLD
What he said: 'We have talked about having a multi-club model, I would love to continue to build out the footprint.
'There are different countries where there are advantages to having a club. Red Bull do a really good job, they have got Leipzig and Salzburg, both of which are playing in the Champions League.
'They have figured out how to make that work. You have Man City, who have a very big network of clubs.'
The idea: Not an original suggestion as Boehly mentioned but a very practical one.
When asked to elaborate, Boehly pointed out that Chelsea wished to identify and acquire talented players in the 18-20 age bracket from all corners of the globe.
The club already has a very good academy responsible for polishing players until they're of a first-team standard and he name-checked the likes of Reece James and Mason Mount.
