Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is planning a massive bid to purchase English soccer team Chelsea F.C. out from previous owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Ranadive became the first Indian-born owner to buy an NBA team when he purchased the Sacramento Kings in 2013 for $534 million. The team is currently said to be worth over $2 billion, but is the owner of the longest active drought without making a playoff appearance, a streak that has been running for 16 years. The team is yet to make the playoffs with Ranadive and recently traded away young guard Tyrese Haliburton for All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis.
Chelsea F.C. on the other hand is one of the most successful English football teams of this century. They are the reigning UEFA Champions League winners and currently sit in third place in the English Premier League table. They last won the EPL in 2017 and are always in title contention.
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive
is preparing an offer to buy Chelsea, per @MailSport pic.twitter.com/kyi5BjeMxy
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 8, 2022
If Ranadive buys Chelsea F.C., he’ll become the second Indian to own a Premier League team, first done by the Indian company ‘VH Group’ that bought Blackburn Rovers in 2010 before the team was relegated to the lower divisions.
The only other active NBA owners that own an English soccer team are the Denver Nuggets, whose owner Stan Kroenke also owns Arsenal F.C., another London-based club like Chelsea.
With Chelsea F.C. being one of the best teams in English football, it will be interesting to see how Ranadive would do if he ends up with the winning bid. His luck with Sacramento has been bad as the team is in a playoff drought that they can’t end, despite the moves they make. Despite trading for Sabonis in a win-now effort, the move was questioned by fans and experts as they gave up on Tyrese Haliburton.
Whether Ranadive ends up being the owner of Chelsea or not, he does have his responsibilities full in terms of managing a team like the Kings and bringing success to the franchise after almost two decades.
