The owner of the Chicago Cubs and Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel, have joined forces to make a bid for Chelsea Football Club, it was reported on Wednesday.
According to Sky News the Ricketts family, which controls the US baseball club, and the American hedge fund tycoon could make a formal bid as soon as Friday. No price has as yet been confirmed but further co-investors could yet join the consortium, Sky noted.
The future of the Premier League club has been thrown into doubt following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich initially proposed transferring stewardship to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation before putting it up for sale with a £3bn price tag.
However, Abramovich 0 who has owned the club since 2013 – has since been sanctioned by the UK government, including a full asset freeze and travel ban.
The club has been given special authority to continue playing games, although a range of other football-related activities, such as the sale of match day programmes, have been halted.
The sale process has also been permitted to go ahead, although it is not clear where any sale proceeds will ultimately end up.
As well as a possible Ricketts-Griffin bid, other interested parties are reported to include LA Dodgers backer Todd Boehly, in partnership with London-based property executive Jonathan Goldstein; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson; Houston Rockets owner Tilman Feritta; British property tycoon Nick Candy; and Liverpool Football Club chairman Sir Martin Broughton, among others.
A spokesperson for the Ricketts-led consortium confirmed to Sky that it would make a formal bid on Friday. “As long-time operators of an iconic professional sports team, the Ricketts family and their partners understand the important of investing for success on the pitch, while respecting the traditions of the club, the fans and the community.”
