‘London is blue’ is a statement bandied about by fans of the football team, Chelsea F.C., to get one over on their city-wide rivals. The reason the phrase stings so much for these rival supporters though, is that for nearly twenty years, it has been utterly and completely true.
Since Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, bought the club back in June 2003, his almost limitless funds enabled him to propel the side to serious success. During Abramovich’s time as owner, Chelsea won an insane 21 trophies, which is the most of any English team since the turn of the millennium.
However, due to global political pressure, Roman’s reign came to an undignified end earlier this year, when the controversial owner was forced to sell the London club. After such an insanely successful period, Chelsea fans were understandably concerned about who would become the new owner of their beloved club. Step forward then, one Todd Boehly, who spearheaded the Boehly-Clearlake consortium takeover that victoriously acquired Stamford Bridge.
Boehly is bonafide business royalty in the US, and it will be interesting to see if he can oversee future success at Chelsea.
His Business Brilliance
Boehly’s personal wealth is, according to reports, around $4.5 billion as of 2022. This vast fortune has been built through some seriously savvy business decisions throughout the years, and all before the now 48-year-old even hits his half-century on earth.
The business bug bit Boehly from a young age, and so he decided to study Finance, graduating from the College of William & Mary with a Bachelor of Business Administration in the subject. He then went on to study at the prestigious London School of Economics, which obviously installed in him his love for football in the capital.
After his studies, Boehly spent his career beginnings at the venture-capital firm J.H. Whitney & Company, and also at the investment banking company Credit Suisse First Boston. He then went on to launch the credit investing business for the global investment firm, Guggenheim Partners, and even became their president.
Continuing that success, Boehly then co-founded the holding company Eldridge Industries, in 2015, becoming its chairman, chief-executive officer, and controlling member.
Entry Into Sport
Capturing Chelsea wasn’t Boehly’s first foray into the sporting world though, as the investing tycoon owns 20% of the MLB team, the LA Dodgers. Interestingly, it was another consortium that was led by Boehly that took-over the then struggling baseball side in 2012.
In what will be great news for Chelsea fans to read, Boehly and the consortium managed to completely turn around the Dodgers’ fortunes, evolving them into baseball’s biggest spenders, reviving their crumbling stadium, and even ended their 32-year run without a championship, by winning the World Series in 2020.
To further bolster his sporting ownership credentials, Boehly also now part owns the WNBA team, the Los Angeles Sparks, as well as pairing up with the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, Mark Walter, to purchase a 27% stake in the renowned basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
All these moves into sport, showcase that Boehly feels exceedingly comfortable making business decisions in the athletic world, making him a peak example to point to when the question of what attributes do traders and sportspeople share gets asked.
Dodgers’ fans are certainly grateful for Boehly’s business smarts. Photo: Mat Weller (Unsplash)
Chelsea’s Chances?
It seems that Boehly is not resting on his laurels when it comes to trying to continue the success at Chelsea, as he’s already overseen several big signings that will strengthen the London side.
According to many bookmakers though, Chelsea’s chances of winning the upcoming 22/23 Premier League season are priced at around 33/1, which proves that many experts believe that their title winning chances are currently pretty slim.
It seems it will take time for Boehly to mould the club into his ideal team then, and many pundits and bookmakers seem to see the present situation at Chelsea as a period of transition, where they might have to endure a few years without silverware.
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