Chelsea’s stadium, Stamford Bridge is seen via bushes in London on March 10, 2022, as Chelsea’s Russian proprietor Roman Abramovich was hit with a UK belongings freeze and journey ban, throwing his plans to promote the European and world membership champions into disarray.
Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Photographs
Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams are committing thousands and thousands of kilos to one of many bids vying to change into the brand new homeowners of Chelsea.
Sky Information can solely reveal the complete line-up of buyers backing the takeover supply for the membership being spearheaded by Sir Martin Broughton, the previous Liverpool and British Airways chairman – essentially the most outstanding of whom are the seven-times Method 1 world champion and the previous girls’s world tennis No 1.
Sources near the group mentioned that Hamilton and Williams – the highest-profile members of any of the three remaining consortia – had pledged an estimated £10m every to the bid.
Each Hamilton, who will compete for Mercedes on the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola this weekend – reside on Sky Sports activities – and Williams, who has gained 23 Grand Slams together with seven Wimbledon titles, have change into established buyers in their very own proper lately.
Serena Ventures, the tennis star’s enterprise capital fund, this week introduced an funding in Opensponsorship, a British-based sports activities expertise start-up, whereas Hamilton has backed a spread of early-stage corporations resembling Zapp, the London-based speedy grocery supply app.
Their involvement within the Chelsea public sale is surprising – not least as a result of Hamilton is an Arsenal fan.
Hamilton and Williams have, nevertheless, been in talks with the group spearheaded by Broughton for a number of weeks.
It was unclear on Thursday morning which company entities can be utilized by the pair to put money into the Blues.
The consortium is uniquely British-led among the many trio of shortlisted bidders and options one other UK sporting icon within the type of Sebastian Coe amongst its backers.
A supply near the group mentioned the addition of Hamilton and Williams was a severe funding determination due to their expertise at constructing international sports activities manufacturers.
Additionally they identified that the involvement of the pair was not the primary time well-known athletes had backed a Premier League membership – NBA star LeBron James has been a small shareholder in Liverpool for greater than a decade.
Below the consortium’s plans, Harris Blitzer Sports activities & Leisure (HBSE), the holding firm headed by American personal fairness billionaires Josh Harris and Dave Blitzer, would maintain a controlling stake in Chelsea – though they might want to divest their minority shareholding in Crystal Palace previous to finishing a deal.
Their involvement with the possession and operating of Crystal Palace since 2015 can also be a particular issue among the many remaining bidders for Chelsea.
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The Broughton-led group’s different buyers embrace: Canada’s Rogers household, which holds a giant curiosity within the media and telecoms firm Rogers Communications; John Arnold, who chaired the Houston 2026 FIFA World Cup bid committee; and Taiwan’s Tsai household, which owns the Taipei Fubon Braves and Fubon Guardians baseball groups.
As Sky Information reported on Monday, Alejandro Santo Domingo, an inheritor to one of many world’s largest brewing fortunes and an investor in a number of North American sports activities franchises, can also be investing within the bid.
Sources near the supply led by Broughton mentioned the variety of its roster of world buyers was among the many elements that had persuaded Hamilton and Williams to change into concerned.
One insider recommended that Hamilton was more likely to play a proper function in Chelsea’s future efforts to advertise range, fairness and inclusion if the bid is profitable.
He and Williams have been advocates of their respective sports activities and past in selling equality, lending their names to quite a few anti-discrimination initiatives.
That challenge was thrown into sharp focus earlier within the Chelsea sale course of when one of many bidders – a consortium headed by the Chicago Cubs-owning Ricketts household – was compelled to distance itself from historic Islamophobic remarks.
Broughton’s consortium is alleged to imagine that it’s best-placed of the remaining consortia to navigate the complexities of proudly owning Chelsea, together with the possible redevelopment of its Stamford Bridge residence.
