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*Contribution Post By Aranyak Nanda

This morning, The Athletic broke the news of billionaire Mark Walter joining Todd Boehly’s bid to buy Chelsea Football Club. This is a significant move for the Boehly consortium, who have gone quiet while the Ricketts - now known as the Ricketts Family Investment Group - have been adding heavy hitters to their bid in recent weeks.

There is still plenty of uncertainty around the Ricketts, who recently put out a list of points outlining their plans and vision for the club.

Despite a promising plan on paper, many Chelsea fans did not take well to the Ricketts’ empty words, with some left unimpressed by this official statement being presented to the fans on the “iPhone Notes app”.

The same day, Todd Boehly was seen attending the Champions League clash between Chelsea and Real Madrid. Boehly’s bid is being seen loud and clear once again due to the addition of Mark Walter, with the Boehly consortium regarded as the favourites to win.

Who is Mark Walter?

Mark Walter is the principal owner of the LA Dodgers. He is the co-founder and current CEO of Guggenheim Partners, who own Guggenheim Baseball Management, which in turn owns the LA Dodgers.

This makes Walter the principal owner, part-chairman and controlling partner of the LA Dodgers, with ‘controlling’ being the key term here.

Is this good news?

Yes. The addition of Walter should alleviate any concerns that fans had about Boehly owning ‘just 20%’ of the Dodgers. Walter’s involvement adds a lot more credibility to how fans can expect Chelsea to be run, with Walter and Boehly both sharing the same ambition to run a successful sports team.

Walter and Boehly both own the LA Sparks with several other investors who are also part-owners of the Dodgers. As of 2020, the Sparks are the most recent franchise to win back-to-back titles in the WNBA.

Walter and Boehly also recently purchased a 27% in the LA Lakers - another big name in sports - in July 2021. The LA Lakers are one of the most valuable teams in the NBA, with Forbes valuing them at around $5.5 billion.

The LA Dodgers are valued at around $4.1 billion, making them the second-most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball, having gone up almost three times in valuation since Guggenheim acquired the franchise in 2012.

Who are Guggenheim Partners?

Guggenheim Partners is the principal owner of the LA Dodgers and a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services.

Guggenheim Partners has more than $340 billion in assets, which could be very good news for Chelsea.

There is no news and no confirmation of any sort about Guggenheim Partners’ involvement in any capacity, but the fact that Mark Walter is the founder of the firm and has been its CEO since its inception could very well mean that Guggenheim could be involved in Chelsea Football Club at some point in the future.

Boehly himself was a former executive at Guggenheim Partners, before selling his stake in the firm in 2019. However, he is still indirectly involved with Guggenheim through their combined ownership of the Dodgers.

What happens if Guggenheim is involved in Chelsea?

Should Mark Walters ever feel the need, Chelsea could quite easily have access to the assets of Guggenheim Partners. There are, however, concerns over Guggenheim’s involvement.

While these are all fair arguments and opinions, as is this very article, there is no reason why fans can’t take a glass-half-full approach here.

Guggenheim Partners are the principal owners of the LA Dodgers through Guggenheim Baseball Management, which is something that could translate to Chelsea if the firm chose to, for example, set up “Guggenheim Football Management” for the club.

While it is easy to gawk at ridiculous amounts like $340 billion or $1.4 trillion, it’s important to check our facts and be realistic.

Despite the claims, it is unlikely that Saudi Media Group were ever independent of the Saudi Arabian government, seeing as no independent media exist in the country. This means that any association with the $1.4 trillion wealth was always likely to be under the control of Mohammed Bin Salman.

Similarly, it is unlikely that Chelsea would ever have all the wealth of Guggenheim at their disposal. It has been mentioned time and again that the Boehly consortium is looking to follow an FSG-type model, where they analyse data and look at spending money wisely.

They are keen to keep Chelsea’s men’s and women’s teams competing at an elite level while continuing to invest in the academy and allow progression from the youth teams to the first teams. The Boehly philosophy is, “It’s not what you spend but how you spend it.”

It is also necessary to be wary of having connections to a regulated firm because of different financial rules and regulations, not to mention the constant fear of having investors put money in only to take it out years later.

For this reason, some fans are backing the personal wealth of the Ricketts, Ken Griffin and Dan Gilbert, who have a combined net worth of around $50 billion. However, apart from the controversial issues off the pitch, the Ricketts have a track record of being unable to keep the Chicago Cubs at the top level and have failed to establish a relationship with fans. 

This led to the ongoing #NoToRicketts campaign, which you can read about in-depth here.

Guggenheim, Walter and Boehly, on the other hand, have a proven track record when it comes to running multiple elite sports franchises. They have increased their teams’ quality, success and valuations many times over, and have established good relationships and community involvement with the fans.

While fans haven’t heard from Boehly himself, he is not pulling any PR stunts and is relaying his information through reliable outlets like The Telegraph, saying that his consortium is willing to pay off the £8 million loan the Chelsea Pitch Owners owe, set up a shadow board for supporters and offer a golden share to the fans. The consortium also wants to redevelop Stamford Bridge stand-by-stand, instead of moving the team to play at Wembley.

Boehly has proven to be a man of more actions and fewer words, reminiscent of one Roman Abramovich. If Chelsea fans want a new era of success, Todd Boehly is the best bet.

Written By Aranyak Nanda

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