Meet the Chelsea bidders: Todd Boehly and Josh Harris-Sir Martin Broughton group leading race to take over club

The race for Chelsea is shaping up to be a head-to-head battle between Todd Boehly and the Josh Harris consortium fronted by Sir Martin Broughton after both groups were shortlisted by Raine.

The Ricketts family also found out they had been shortlisted on Friday evening, despite a fan backlash against emails sent and comments made by members of the family which makes them outsiders.

Here, Telegraph Sport profiles all three bids.

Todd Boehly

Who’s on the bid

Todd Boehly - The American is part owner of the LA Dodgers with a net worth of almost £5billion.

Hansjorg Wyss - An 86-year-old Swiss philanthropist. His net worth is said to be £3.85bn.

Jonathan Goldstein - A British entrepreneur who has extensive knowledge and experience of property acquisition and development.

Clearlake Capital - The California investment firm has over £60bn of assets under management.

Sports experience

The Dodgers won baseball’s World Series in 2020 and claimed eight back-to-back Western Division titles since Boehly’s involvement. He also has a stake in the LA Sparks women’s basketball team and bought a stake in the LA Lakers men’s team last July. Goldstein is a lifelong football fanatic, albeit a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. Boehly made a £2.2bn bid for Chelsea in 2019, which was turned down.

Fan involvement

The Boehly bid last week announced the inclusion of Chelsea fans Danny Finkelstein and Barbara Charone as non-executive board directors if their offer is successful. Finkelstein was on the panel for the Government's fan-led review, while Charone, a legendary music PR, worked on the Chelsea anthem ‘Blue Day’ with Suggs.

Stamford Bridge

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, the Boehly bid has already looked into the feasibility and costing of redeveloping Stamford Bridge on its existing site. There is not believed to be any appetite to try to move the stadium to another part of London and Goldstein’s experience will be key in this area.

What have they said

Boehly is yet to speak publicly about his bid to buy Chelsea, but supporters have been excited by some of his old comments, including his reply to a question on what a successful ownership of the Dodgers would look like. “You’re not really asking me that, are you?” he asked. “The more World Series we win, the more valuable a franchise it is, right?”

Any weaknesses?

Aside from the fact that some Chelsea fans were initially concerned by the fact Goldstein is a Spurs fan, it is hard to find any serious weaknesses to Boehly’s bid other than the fact a section of English football supporters remain generally sceptical over the prospect of American owners. Wyss was the first man to go public over Roman Abramovich’s decision to sell Chelsea.

Sir Martin Broughton/Josh Harris

Who’s on the bid

Sir Martin Broughton - The former Liverpool chairman and Chelsea supporter has made himself the public face of the bid, but he is not believed to be financing it.

Josh Harris - Reportedly worth around £4.5billion, Crystal Palace shareholder Harris is thought to be the main financial driver behind the bid.

David Blitzer - Another Palace shareholder, Blitzer is said to be worth about £1bn and co-owns the Philadelphia 76ers with Harris.

Vivek Ranadive - The Indian businessman has been named as being one of the group’s minority investors. Worth about £500m, he owns the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

Lord Sebastian Coe - Chelsea supporter and double Olympic gold medal winner Coe has publicly backed the bid, but his involvement is understood to be relatively minor.

Sports experience

Harris and Blitzer are both shareholders in Crystal Palace, but have not opened their wallets significantly for Chelsea’s Premier League rivals. They also co-own the 76ers basketball team, who they bought in 2011. The value of the 76ers has shot up since the arrival of Harris and Blitzer, although the team itself has not enjoyed much notable success. Reports have claimed the pair want to take over an NFL team and place it in London. Broughton was chairman at Liverpool for six months and helped the sale of the club.

Fan involvement

Broughton and Coe are both Chelsea fans. It is likely Broughton would take on the role of chairman if their bid is successful, with Coe in line to be given a place on the board. Coe is already close with the existing Chelsea board, including chairman Bruce Buck, who he sat with at Wembley for the Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool. There had even been talk that Coe would be part of the doomed plan to put the running of the club into the hands of a board of trustees. Broughton claims that the group are on board with Tracey Coruch’s fan-led review, albeit without detailing which elements he would be prepared to employ, and that he has met with the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust.

Stamford Bridge

Precious little is known on what the Broughton/Harris bid have planned for Stamford Bridge. The Wells Fargo Centre, where the 76ers play, has undergone £227million renovation work, but it is nothing like the redevelopment Stamford Bridge needs. Coe received criticism for his part in pushing through the building of the Olympic Stadium without any initial plan for it to double as a football stadium. He later supported West Ham United’s move into the stadium because of the club’s commitment to keep a running track.

What have they said

Less than 24 hours after the bidding for Chelsea closed last Friday night, Broughton did a tour of Sky, talkSPORT and the BBC to talk about his campaign to take over the club. But he has still not confirmed the involvement of Harris and Blitzer, or confirmed the identities of any of the other investors. That will potentially come now the group has been shortlisted. It has been almost a week since he said: “There’ll be no hiding of any of the players. It’ll be completely transparent. I can’t do it right now, but it will be totally transparent.”

Any weaknesses?

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, the Premier League could face complaints if Harris and Blitzer are confirmed as investors in Broughton’s bid. The pair would have to divest their 18 per cent stakes in Crystal Palace to pass the owners’ and directors’ test and doing so could set what some believe could be a dangerous precedent. Rival clubs already unhappy at the prospect of Abramovich’s £1.5bn loan being written off may also argue against a takeover funded by two men who have quickly dumped their shares in another club to circumnavigate the rules. Coe has faced criticism from outspoken Labour MP Chris Bryant over his media company’s alleged relationship with imprisoned Russian oligarch Andrey Chernyakov.

The Ricketts family

Who’s on the bid

Tom, Todd and Laura Ricketts - The family already own the Chicago Cubs and are estimated to be worth a combined £3.4billion.

Ken Griffin - Owner of Citadel, the American hedge fund manager and investor is worth an estimated £20bn.

Sports experience

The Ricketts family have owned the Chicago Cubs baseball team since 2009 and oversaw a euphoric World Series success in 2016, which was their first in 108 years. There have since been accusations of under-funding the team, although the Cubs recently agreed to a five-year, $85million contract with Japanese star Seiya Suzuki. A 2018 bid to buy Chelsea was rejected.

Fan involvement

None as yet. Tom Ricketts travelled to London this week to meet the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust, but he did not manage to allay any of the fears over emails and comments attributed to members of the family.

The most damaging part of the statement said: “The CST are grateful to the Ricketts family for meeting with us this week. We challenged them on all of the points supporters have raised concerns about. However, our concerns about their ability to run an inclusive, successful club on behalf of our diverse supporter base around the world have not yet been allayed.”

Chelsea Pride, who released a statement on Thursday, stressing the need for LGBTQ fans to be embraced by the club’s next owners will be aware that Laura Ricketts is gay and an LGBTQ activist.

Stamford Bridge

This is perhaps the key strength of the Ricketts bid, as they have already funded a successful redevelopment of the Cubs’ Wrigley Field Stadium. Like Stamford Bridge is in London, Wrigley Field is situated in a built-up area of Chicago and the Ricketts had to navigate many of the challenges they would face with Chelsea. Sources close to the bid claim the family have already spoken to the architect and project lead on the previous redevelopment plan for Stamford Bridge that received planning permission, but was shelved by Abramovich.

What have they said

The Ricketts family were forced to insist they do not hold racist or anti-Muslim views following a backlash over emails sent by Joe, the father of the family who is not involved in the bid for Chelsea, that emerged in 2019. A statement from the family said: “Our family rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms. Racism and Islamophobia have no place whatsoever in our society. We have developed deep and abiding partnerships with the Muslim community in Chicago, as well as with all communities of colour. Respect for diversity and inclusion are central to our family’s values. If we prevail in our bid for Chelsea, we commit to the Club and to the fans that we will actively promote these values.”

Pete Ricketts also responded to the Trust statement, saying: “We have listened to all of your feedback – including from the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust – and are grateful that the door is still open for us to demonstrate our commitment to working with fans to protect the club’s heritage. It is now up to us to redouble our efforts and clearly lay out a vision for our stewardship of the club with diversity and inclusion at its heart.”

Any weaknesses?

See above. There is still a #notoRicketts campaign being pushed on Twitter, which has been backed by former Chelsea player Paul Canoville and now endorsed by the Trust, leaving the family with a mountain to climb to win back any kind of favour.