Skip to main content

Chelsea to build global football conglomerate

Chelsea's new owners are keen to build a multi-club ownership group, emulating the example set by Manchester City's City Football Group.

They would like to buy clubs in other European football leagues, highlighting Belgium and Portugal as targets.  They see it as a better arrangement than loaning developing young stars out to other clubs where they have less control.   Outsourcing player development to unaffiliated clubs created too much stagnation and wastage. New FIFA loan restrictions also mean this approach is no longer feasible on such a large scale.

Why Portugal? It would carry the cultural benefit of being the ideal place to store any talented Brazilians the club might buy who are not quite ready to shine at Stamford Bridge. It’s already a well-established entry point for young Brazilians looking to make careers in Europe, and Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon have all done well financially by facilitating their journeys.

However, some of new owner Todd Boehly's ideas to boost Premier League revenues, and spread money down the pyramid, have gone down less well, based as they are on rather different American experience.

The super star match in US baseball brings together teams from the two different (American and National) leagues.   The All-Star game in Los Angeles this year made $200m over two days. 

Boehly proposes a North v. South all-star match for England.   Quite how north and south would be defined in such a contest is unclear.   Top clubs would also not be keen on their leading players being obliged to play in another match that could end in injury.

He also proposes a relegation tournament between the bottom four clubs.  In the past there have been play offs involving the top second division sides as well, but these were fraught occasions, although the formula is used in Scotland.

The real point here is not the specific proposals.  What it underlines is that Boehly and Clearlake are not here to be idle passengers on the Premier League train. They have big ideas and one of their key priorities is to find new ways to raise the revenues of the entire competition.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolves get raw deal from FFP

  I used to see a lifelong Wolves fan for lunch once a month.   He was approaching ninety, but still went to games.   Sadly he passed away the other week. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire has noted, Wolves continue to be constrained by financial fair play rules.  Radio 4 this morning described them as this year's 'crisis club' and the pessimists have certainly been piling in. Martin Samuel wrote sympathetically in the Sunday Times yesterday, saying that the Premier League drives talent away with regulatory red tape: 'Why could Al-Hilal sign Neves? Because Wolves needed the money. And why did Wolves need the money? Because the club had to comply with an artificial construct known as financial fair play. So Wolves are going skint, yes? No. There is no suggestion that Wolves are in financial trouble, only that they are failing to meet the rigours of FFP. Wolves’ owners appear to have the money to run the club, and invest in the club, and in fact came up with a pow
Post a Comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day income is
Post a Comment
Read more

Charlton takeover approved

The long awaited takeover of Charlton Athletic by SE7 Partners from Thomas Sandgaard has been approved:  https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/se7-partners-obtain-efl-approval-for-charlton-athletic-takeover/ Charlton have had unhappy experiences with owners for over a decade, so how this works out will remain to be seen.  There is certainly potential there, but will it be realised? This interview with Charlie Methven gives detail not available elsewhere:  https://thecharltondossier.com/charlie-methven-on-the-record/
Post a Comment
Read more