February 12 – Chelsea’s American owner, Todd Boehly, who was in the news earlier this week as Blues fans were unhappy about his partnership with Vivid seats and the unavailability of match tickets, is making more waves but this time in cricket.
Boehly, who is a minority owner of the World Champions, LA Dodger team in Major League Baseball (MLB) has agreed to buy a 49% share in the Hundred franchise, Trent Rockets.
Cain International founded by British businessman, Jonathan Goldstein and the American, are paying around £40 million for their stake in the club valuing the franchise at £79 million.
Boehly was also interested in running the London Spirit franchise, however, was beaten out by a Silicon Valley consortium for the eye watering sum of £145 million.
It was in May 2022, that Boehly first arrived on the sporting scene in England when he led Clearlake Capital to Stamford Bridge and a $3.2 billion takeover from long-time owner, Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich.
He immediately went on a buying spree, spending approximately €1.3222 billion (£1.13 billion) on new signings with the club acquiring 28 players for transfer fees in just an 18-month span. Chelsea have also generated income through player sales though, and the club has earned approximately €528.6 million through player sales since Boehly’s takeover, resulting in a net spend of €793.6 million.
Behind the scenes at Chelsea, there have been reports of a power struggle between Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, co-founder of Clearlake Capital, with rumours that they may be looking to buy each other out in the near future, leading to speculation that Boehly may move from the football world to the more sedate charms of cricket.
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