New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly voiced some surprising ideas during the SALT conference on Tuesday, including a Premier League all-star game.
The American businessman rattled off a plethora of topics. In addition to the all-star game, Boehly suggested a playoff system to determine relegation from England’s top flight. Both represent common ideas in American sports.
“Ultimately, I hope the Premier League learns a little bit of a lesson from American sports,” Boehly said. “MLB made its all-star game in Los Angeles this year. We made $200 million between a Monday and a Tuesday.”
How far these talks with other Premier League owners will go remains to be seen.
Boehly targets Premier League All-Star Game, more changes
Boehly bought Chelsea this summer for around $2.8bn upfront, while investing another $2bn in further development. The purchase of the West London club was not the American’s first entry into sports property. The 48-year-old businessman previously bought a stake in Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Along with Boehly’s plans to Americanize the Premier League, he also hinted at buying other soccer teams in Europe. “We’ve talked about having a multi-club model, I’d love to continue building the footprint,” Boehly said.
#???????????????????????? has a bit of everything. #ChelseaFC Chairman Todd Boehly provides a fascinating insight into his global vision for the English Premier League club. pic.twitter.com/wa9aBHuGKe
— SALT ???????? (@SALTConference) September 13, 2022
“I think our aim is to make sure we can show young superstars ways to get onto the Chelsea pitch while giving them real playing time. And, for me, the way to do that is through another club somewhere in a really competitive league in Europe.”
Manchester City and Red Bull have similar setups with multiple clubs under one ownership. City Football Group currently has 12 teams around the world under its umbrella, including Manchester City, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Troyes AC, Girona FC and the recently acquired Palermo FC. Red Bull, on the other hand, owns RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg and the New York Red Bulls.
Boehly made no particular suggestion as to which other European clubs he might be interested in acquiring. However, teams in Belgium and Portugal could be considered.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Action Plus
