Chelsea owner: ‘Evolution of European football is inevitable’

Since the consortium led by American billionaire Todd Bowley and Clearlake Capital announced on May 30, 2022, the completion of the transfer of ownership of Chelsea from its former owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Blues fans have already experienced several major upheavals. The last of which was the unexpected dismissal of the head coach of the team, the German specialist Thomas Tuchel, which MK wrote about earlier.

As it turns out, new Chelsea chairman Bowley and his associates have come up with new ideas on how to build not only their recent acquisition, but all of English and European football.

The Financial Times reported on September 13 that Chelsea’s owners plan to buy more football clubs to raise young football superstars and prepare them to play in the English Premier League (EPL).

Bowley has said he is considering buying teams in other European leagues after the Chelsea acquisition, singling out Belgium and Portugal as top priority countries.

Such a statement, according to the Financial Times, hints at how Bowley, along with Clearlake Capital, are seeking to profit from the record £4.25 billion they paid Roman Abramovich for Chelsea.

“The problem is, when you have 18, 19, 20 year old superstars, you can loan them to other clubs, but you’re outsourcing their development,” Bowley told the Salt financial conference in New York during Tuesday, September 13, 2022

“Our goal is to make sure that we can show the way for our young superstars, that they can someday get a real chance at Stamford Bridge and even play in the Chelsea first team,” he added.

Bowley said he aims to create a group of multi-club owners, emulating the example of the City Football Group, which controls the English Manchester City and owns stakes in football teams in the US, Australia and Japan.

Commenting on the recent sacking of head coach Thomas Tuchel, Bowley acknowledged that he was “obviously extremely talented and had great success at Chelsea”. But at the same time, Bowley said that the new owners need not just a new head coach, but a new manager who would really like to work with them. “There are ‘many walls’ to be broken at Chelsea, including the exchange of data between the first team and the youth academy,” Bowley concluded.

The American billionaire also suggested that the Premier League consider hosting an “all-star” match, following the example of the North American sports leagues NBA, NHL and NFL, for additional profit. In his opinion, this game can increase the income of clubs in the Premier League and help finance teams in the lower divisions of English football.

The Financial Times notes that Bowley’s initiatives and statements show how American investors continue to press for a change in the format of European football after these billionaires and the consortiums they lead were at the heart of the sport.

According to Bowley, the Premier League All-Star game could be played in a North vs. South format. At the same time, it is doubtful that the new owner of Chelsea understands the difference between the historical division of the United States into North and South and the peculiarities of the geographical division of Great Britain, where, in addition to England, there is also Scotland. Wales and even Northern Ireland.

However, this does not bother Bowley. “At the end of the day, I hope the Premier League will take a little lesson from American sports and really start thinking about the All-Star game,” he asked at a conference in New York. By the way, in the same place, he suggested that the Premier League hold another tournament between the four worst teams in the League, following the example of the American leagues, without specifying, however, by what criteria it would be necessary to determine who is the worst in the Premier League.

All-Star Games are popular events among the major professional sports leagues in the United States in which the regular season is suspended so that the best stars from across the league can take part in friendly competition against each other. These events represent a small tourist boom for host cities and are often accompanied by additional televised pranks such as the NBA Slam Dunk Contest and Major League Baseball (MLB) Home Run Derby.

By the way. Bowley knows a lot about baseball, as he is a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise, an MLB club.

“Major League Baseball had an All-Star Game in Los Angeles this year – we made $200 million in two days. I think everyone likes the idea of ​​increasing the Premier League’s revenue. The evolution of professional sports and, in particular, football in Europe is inevitable, ”Bowley summed up his sensational performance.

It is worth noting that the idea of ​​organizing any new football tournaments and creating any new conglomerates in European football is extremely painful for UEFA. Considering this an attack on their commercial interests. So earlier, she, together with the football associations of England, Italy and Spain, issued a joint statement condemning the creation of the Super League. In addition, UEFA said that all clubs that take part in this tournament will be disqualified from national, European and world competitions, and players will lose the right to play for their national teams. All this led to the fact that on April 21, 2021, three days after the official launch of the Super League project, its management issued a statement on the suspension of all activities.