One of Chelsea’s main financial backers is poised to buy into another blue-chip asset, just 12 months on from their initial investment in Chelsea.
In spite of what Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali‘s appearance together in public recently might suggest, the factions led by the two Chelsea powerbrokers are still very much at loggerheads.
Boehly was the face of the takeover from Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2022 and has an outsized influence behind the scenes despite controlling just 13 per cent of the club’s equity.
As the club’s largest individual stakeholder, however, it is Eghbali – whose Clearlake Capital investment vehicle own 61.5 per cent of the club – who is really the most powerful figure at Stamford Bridge.
As well as reportedly increasingly involving himself in sporting and recruitment decisions, like the £100m capture of Enzo Fernandez in January 2023, Eghbali also has final sign-off on major financial matters.
Across just five windows, Chelsea have spent close to £1.5bn – and the ownership have also committed to spending billions on either the expansion of Stamford Bridge or a new stadium entirely.
Now, one of the key allies of the Boehly-Eghbali regime has made what could potentially be a landmark investment decision with direct implications for Chelsea’s owners.
Ares Capital eye part-takeover of NFL franchise
Both Boehly and Eghbali have strong links with the NFL, which – despite the Premier League’s mammoth TV deal – remains the most lucrative sports league in the world by some margin.
Boehly has previously been linked with buying into an NFL franchise to accompany his major stake in Major League Baseball outfit, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He also has multiple media-related interests in the NFL through his Eldridge Industries company.
Eghbali meanwhile has also reportedly considered investing in the Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders.
Both men will be well aware that Ares Capital, the enormous private equity firm that loaned £500m to Chelsea last September, are in talks to acquire a stake in an NFL side.
As reported by Sportico, Ares has entered into a period of exclusivity with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross over a potential 10 per cent equity investment that values the franchise at £6bn.
The development comes just a few weeks after 31 out of 32 NFL teams voted to allow private equity investment in the league up to 10 per cent, making it the last major sports league to do so.
Private equity’s interest in Chelsea
The potential landmark deal for the Miami Dolphins is emblematic of private equity’s increasing interest in sport.
As well as the NFL – which is particularly attractive to investors because of its closed-shop, fixed-costs model, private equity now have equity footholds in Chelsea, AC Milan and La Liga.
Unlike the NFL, the way forward for private equity in football is somewhat opaque, as has been seen with Clearlake’s approach at Chelsea.
The group felt the club were undervalued at £2.5bn, indicating that they believe there are major untapped sources of revenue that they can cash in on.
But exactly what those sources are remains unclear.
Many investors believe that technology is the key to justifying sky-high enterprise valuations of clubs like Chelsea, with virtual or mixed reality allowing clubs to tap into and monetise their overseas fanbases.
But the interest in this technology is largely unproven at scale.
And given that private equity tends to want a return on its investment in five to seven years, it seems unlikely that the value can be realised at Chelsea – or indeed most other clubs – in that timeframe.
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