Processes involving competitive bids often are nasty. Just look at the fight to build a casino in Chicago. But across the pond, the knives have come out in recent days for the Ricketts family, owners of the Cubs. The Ricketts clan is bidding for one of the crown jewels of British soccer, Chelsea Football Club.
The circumstances of the sale are, to say, the least, unusual.
Chelsea, located in West London, has been owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich since 2003, when the Russian oligarch coughed up 140 million pounds (today about $184 million) for a storied Premier League club with an illustrious history dating back to 1905. Chelsea has won two six league titles, two European Cups, eight FA Cups and a variety of other honors. Even those fans who hate the place have to admit the club’s history places it among the game’s global elite. And while it does not have London to itself, Chelsea has the advantage of residing in one of the biggest sports media markets on the planet.
These are not halcyon days for Russian oligarchs. Because of his ties to Vladimir Putin, Abramovich was sanctioned and forced to divest, throwing Chelsea into an unprecedented state of limbo where it could not sell tickets to its own matches, but nonetheless was allowed to continue playing by the British government, lest the entire Premier League be thrown into disarray.
A quick sale is in everyone’s interest. Bidders were requested and the Rickettses stepped up, supported by the deep pockets of none other than Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin, the Chicago-based billionaire, political player and (who knew?) longtime soccer fan.
On the face of it, the Rickettses have a good case. The Chicago Cubs are an iconic franchise, just like Chelsea. The owners have carefully redeveloped the area around Wrigley Field, bringing in a hotel, restaurants, a family-oriented green space and, of course, sports betting. It hasn’t all been clear sailing, and the decision to rebuild the team and let star names exit angered fans, but no reasonable person could question their level of investment, overall. Under the Ricketts family, the Cubs has been a well-managed franchise. And remember, the team won a World Series title in 2016.
The controversy in Britain will be familiar to Chicagoans, centering on the emails of patriarch Joe Ricketts, often a babbling source of hate speech and conspiracy theories that brought shame on his business and family. The elder Ricketts apologized after the emails were released, but we make no defense here of his blather, even though he thought he was not writing for public consumption. His apparent Islamophobia is particularly galling to many in today’s multicultural London. The whole episode was appalling in Chicago too.
What is germane here is that Joe Ricketts is not part of the bid, just as he is not part of the day-to-day management of the Cubs. The siblings Tom, Pete and Laura Ricketts cannot be blamed for the sins of the father and, if you remember the leaked email scandal, evidence showed that Pete Ricketts tried to close down his dad’s stupid remarks at the time. Laura Ricketts hardly is made from the same cloth as Joe and her two brothers have shown themselves to be decent people. They’ve worked to build an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere at the Cubs, at least if you can afford the ticket prices.
On Wednesday, Tom Ricketts was reportedly scheduled to meet Chelsea fans and apologize yet again for his father’s bigoted comments. “Our family rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms,” the Ricketts family said in a statement, aimed at consummating the deal for Chelsea, for sure, but also sincerely meant, we’d wager.
We’d say to those Chelsea fans that we know the younger Ricketts pretty well in this city and they don’t have to worry about any off-color commentary or bigoted management practices. That is not how these owners have done business. Even their detractors would acknowledge that.
Griffin certainly is a controversial figure in his own right, given his interest in and influence over Republican politics, but he too is an upstanding figure and far removed from the belief system of the elder Ricketts. These are hard-driving businesspeople, but then that also describes the ownership of most of Chelsea’s rivals. And the fans of the soccer club certainly can expect some new investment.
Chelsea, like most British soccer clubs, has its own history with racism on its terraces and it has tried to make amends, not unlike the younger Ricketts. The supporters of the club are not all in the position to throw stones across the Atlantic.
The other bidders are not exactly immune to criticism. One rival bid from the Saudia Media Group came from an entity with a link to the Saudi royal family. Human Rights Watch had urged the Premier League to block that bid.
The sale is being overseen by the investment bank Raine. They have been told to move fast and a shortlist is expected as soon as Thursday in the U.K. Others that could be on the U.S.-heavy list of finalists with the Rickettses include a consortium led by Todd Bohely, a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, working with Jonathan Goldstein and the Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss (who once declared interest in this newspaper); the British property tycoon Nick Candy; and a bid headlined by Martin Broughton and Sebastian Coe, a legendary figure in British sport.
This is, of course, a decision for Chelsea. But we’ll all be glad when the club has rid itself of Abramovich and forged a new way forward with clear distance from Putin’s bloody hands.
Likely to be somewhere north of 2.5 billion pounds (about $3.3 billion), the Rickettses bid looks strong, given the rock-solid source of its leading financial partner. The family has experience running a major sports franchise. Their interest in Chelsea should be considered on its economic and managerial merits.
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