The owners of the Chicago Cubs and Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund tycoon, have joined forces to table a blockbuster bid for Chelsea Football Club.
Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Ricketts family and Mr Griffin have formed an investment group that will lodge a formal offer for last season’s Champions League-winners on Friday.
The development, which will be publicly announced later, presents a formidable competitor to rival bidders as Roman Abramovich’s 19-year tenure as Chelsea’s owner draws to a conclusion.
The Ricketts’ joint bid with Mr Griffin – and potentially further co-investors – makes the Cubs owners the latest in a string of American sports billionaires to prepare firm offers for Chelsea in what is shaping up to become the most hotly contested auction of a Premier League club in history.
Sky News initially revealed 11 days ago that the Ricketts family was talking to prospective financing partners including Mr Griffin, but on Wednesday, a spokesman for the consortium confirmed: “The Ricketts Family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, can confirm they will be leading an investment group that will make a formal bid for Chelsea Football Club this Friday.
“As long-time operators of an iconic professional sports team, the Ricketts Family and their partners understand the importance of investing for success on the pitch, while respecting the traditions of the club, the fans and the community.
“We look forward to sharing further details of our plans in due course.”
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Sources close to their impending bid said the Ricketts’ record of success with the Chicago Cubs and the financial firepower of their consortium would make an ideal recipe for success at Stamford Bridge.
The last six years have been the most successful in the Cubs’ history – winning the World Series and completing a $1bn renovation of the team’s home, Wrigley Field, which is one of the most historic sports arenas in the US, having been built in 1914.
A source close to the consortium said it had been the largest privately financed stadium restoration project in US history.
“Wrigley Field was transformed from terminal disrepair to a national treasure,” the source said.
That narrative is expected to be deployed amid the ongoing debate about the future of Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea fans and executives generally accept will need extensive expansion work if the club is to compete sustainably with European rivals which boast much larger capacities.
Mr Griffin’s involvement adds enormous financial clout to the bid.
He is the founder and chief executive of Citadel Asset Management and among the most successful executives in the history of Wall Street.
Forbes magazine recently estimated his wealth at $26.5bn, making him the richest individual to be publicly linked with the Chelsea auction so far.
The source said the Ricketts-Griffin bid would be “the most complete bid on the table – no one else has had the on-field success the Ricketts Family have had with the Cubs, combined with successfully completing a massive renovation of an historic stadium”.
The family’s fortune came from founding the online brokerage firm, TD Ameritrade – now known under the name The Charles Schwab Corporation.
Insiders said the Ricketts’ interest in Chelsea was not new, having made an offer to buy the club in 2018, a year in which they were also linked with a bid for AC Milan.
They added that the offer would be compelling because it included experience of owning an elite sports team that has won major trophies, and was being motivated by a “desire to own Chelsea for all the right reasons, rather than taking advantage of a club in crisis”.
Among the Ricketts consortium’s rival bidders are a group including the LA Dodgers backer Todd Boehly, who as Sky News revealed at the weekend has teamed up with Jonathan Goldstein, a London-based property executive.
Woody Johnson, the New York Jets co-owner and former US ambassador to the UK, is also reportedly bidding, while Tilman Feritta, owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team, Josh Harris, a backer of the Philadelphia 76ers and Vivek Ranadive, owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, are all either preparing to lodge bids for Chelsea or are reported to be interested.
Nick Candy, the British property tycoon, and Sir Martin Broughton, the former British Airways and Liverpool FC chairman, have both been revealed by Sky News to be preparing bids for Chelsea.
The cluster of American sports billionaires circling Chelsea underlines the extent to which the English Premier League has become a magnet for financiers from across the Atlantic during the last 20 years.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United have all been acquired by US-based businessmen during that period, and a significant number of other top-flight clubs also have American backing.
Chelsea won their first game since Mr Abramovich was sanctioned at home to Newcastle on Sunday after a late goal from striker Kai Havertz.
Last season’s Champions League-winners have been thrown into disarray by Russia’s war on Ukraine, with Mr Abramovich initially proposing to place the club in the care of its foundation and then formally putting it up for sale.
The many remaining questions about the sale of Chelsea now concern the price that a buyer will have to pay and the destination of the proceeds, with the government adamant that Mr Abramovich will not see any financial return after owning the club for nearly 20 years.
He had initially slapped a £3bn price tag on the Stamford Bridge outfit, with the net proceeds being donated to a charitable foundation set up to benefit the victims of the war in Ukraine.
Last week, Chelsea sponsors such as Three UK, the mobile telecoms network, and Hyundai, the Korean car-maker, announced that they were suspending their association with the club, which was also banned from opening its retail outlets or selling new match tickets to fans.
The licence restrictions were relaxed by the government at the weekend, meaning it can spend additional funds on fulfilling home matches and receive broadcast income and prize money.
Raine, the US merchant bank running the auction of Chelsea, notified prospective bidders last Friday that it and Chelsea had “coordinated with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and UK Government Investments [UKGI] and will be moving forward with the sale process”.
A rapid sale is seen as essential if Chelsea is to remain solvent and therefore retain the nucleus of a playing squad which has become established as one of Europe’s most successful under Mr Abramovich’s ownership.
Whoever buys the club will require the government’s consent in the form of a special licence as well as the approval of the Premier League under its fit and proper ownership test.
