London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Chicago Cubs owners draft in bankers to help salvage Chelsea takeover dream

Chicago Cubs owners draft in bankers to help salvage Chelsea takeover dream

The owners of the Chicago Cubs are drafting in a heavyweight investment bank as they attempt to salvage their bid to buy Chelsea Football Club.
Sky News has learnt that the Ricketts family and Ken Griffin, the Citadel hedge fund billionaire, are in talks to appoint Lazard to advise on their offer for the Stamford Bridge club.

The move comes after days of conjecture that their offer may have been compromised by the backlash against Islamophobic comments made 10 years ago by a member of the Ricketts family.

Raine Group, the investment bank advising on the sale of Chelsea, is understood to be yet to notify the Cubs owners on the fate of their bid, although people close to the process indicated that they may yet join two other serious bidders on the shortlist.

In a statement issued on Friday following a series of talks with Chelsea supporters' groups, Tom Ricketts, the Cubs chairman, said: "My family and I are very grateful to all the fans and supporters' groups who took time to meet with us this week and share their passion and concerns for Chelsea Football Club.

"It's clear you have nothing but the best interests of the club at heart.

"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."

The impending appointment of Lazard as adviser to their bid underlines the Ricketts camp's confidence that it remains a serious competitor in the search for a new owner, who will replace Roman Abramovich as Chelsea's owner after nearly two decades.

A spokesman for the Ricketts-Griffin bid declined to comment on the talks with Lazard.

Stephen Pagliuca, a joint owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team and Atalanta, the Italian football club, has also joined the ranks of those vying to own the Blues.

Sky News revealed on Thursday that a string of bidders including the former US ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, and London-based asset manager Centricus had been eliminated from the sale process, and that the leading contenders to buy the club remained consortia led by Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers part-owner, and Sir Martin Broughton, the former Liverpool FC chairman.

The auction of Chelsea has been transformed into the most hotly contested - and potentially the richest - sale of a leading sports franchise in history, with hundreds of parties expressing an interest in buying a share of the club or controlling it outright.

It emerged earlier this week that Raine had asked bidders to give binding assurances about future spending on the club and its ground before it finalised the shortlist.

At least five existing owners of US basketball and baseball teams have been among the bidders for Chelsea, with Mr Boehly and the Philadelphia 76ers backer Josh Harris - who is part of the bid led by Sir Martin - keen to add the Blues to their collections of sporting assets.

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.

A frenzy of bidding among major global investors, billionaires and sports-owners has raised the prospect that Mr Abramovich's original £3bn asking price will be met.

Prior to being sanctioned, Mr Abramovich had said he intended to write off a £1.5bn loan to the club and hand the net proceeds from the sale to a new charity that he would set up to benefit the victims of the war in Ukraine.

The Premier League has disqualified Mr Abramovich from being a director of Chelsea, but has said the move would not affect players' ability to train or fulfil the club's fixtures.

This week, the government agreed to further amendments to a special licence which allows Chelsea to continue operating, enabling it to resume selling tickets for away matches, with the proceeds being held by the Premier League and earmarked for a Ukrainian war victims charity.

Chelsea can also now receive £30m from its parent company to ease cashflow constraints caused by the current crisis.

A rapid sale is seen as essential if Chelsea is to avert the uncertainty that would trigger the break-up of one of the top flight's most valuable playing squads.

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.

Mr Abramovich 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.

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.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×