English soccer club Chelsea was put up for sale in early March after team owner, Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned by the UK government for his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Abramovich is a Russian oligarch.
Chelsea is one of the most valuable football teams in the world, winning 21 titles in the 19 years the previous owner operated the team. However, a new ownership group is set to purchase the club for a whopping £4.25 billion ($4.53 billion). The group is led by DraftKings owner Todd Boehly.
Boehly is a major investor in many American sports. He most notably owns a 27% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most valuable NBA teams in the league. He also owns a 20% stake in the 2020 MLB Champions, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Chelsea's $5.3B takeover by a consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and Sparks part-owner Todd Boehly has now been approved by the UK government. pic.twitter.com/bCej56LVr0
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 25, 2022
Funnily enough, Lakers forward LeBron James owned 2% of Liverpool FC, another English club that has soared in value since LeBron’s 2011 investment when the Fenway Sports Group bought the team. While LeBron’s 2% in Liverpool has been converted to a 1% stake in the parent company, he actively talks about Liverpool across his extremely valuable social media channels.
Boehly employs James on the Lakers but will be fighting it out with his team in the English Premier League and in European football. Liverpool finished as the runners-up in the EPL this season, ahead of Chelsea in third place.
Boehly’s investment group will also feature Swiss businessman Hansjorg Wyss and British property investor Jonathan Goldstein. With European football still being the biggest commercial sport in the world, the Lakers part-owner was bound to be attracted to the London-based Chelsea to stick with the winning reputations of his teams. Boehly first attempted to purchase the club in 2019, but Roman Abramovich declined his $3 billion offer.
