Chelsea bid withdrawn from Ricketts family: Three groups remain in hunt to buy Sanctioned Roman Abramovich’s squad

A major new development in the Chelsea ownership saga came on Friday when the Ricketts family, one of the four remaining groups in the running to buy the club, announced they were pulling out of the race to buy the team. in an official statement. The owners of the Chicago Cubs and their partners have decided not to submit the long-awaited final offer to buy the club.

The statement from the group led by Ricketts reads: “The Ricketts-Griffin-Gilbert group has decided, after careful consideration, not to submit a final offer for Chelsea FC. During the process of finalizing their proposal, it became increasingly clear that certain issues could not be addressed given the unusual dynamics around the sales process. We have great admiration for Chelsea and their fans, and we wish the new owners the best of luck.

After this major exit in Chelsea’s new ownership process, there remain three possible candidates to buy the club in the coming weeks: Stephen Pagliuca, the co-chairman of Bain Capital and co-owner of the Boston Celtics is a strong candidate, the consortia led by Martin Broughton and Sebastian Coe (and which includes Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris) and one led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Todd Boehly are the others.

The Ricketts group had faced stiff opposition from fans after supporters learned of a controversy in which Cubs owner Joe Ricketts was forced to apologize after emails he had written containing racist language became public. The group had attempted to allay fans’ concerns, meeting with supporter groups and other Chelsea stakeholders in a bid to convince them that they would be worthy owners of Chelsea. Although, ultimately, it wasn’t these fans’ concerns that led to the band dropping their offer, according to reports.

Chelsea Football Club’s sale process is unique, triggered by sanctions against current owner Roman Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Given the uncertain nature of Chelsea’s current ownership status, the Raine Group oversaw the process with input from the UK government, which dictated the terms under which Chelsea are currently run following the club’s freeze with Abramovich’s other assets.

Chelsea currently sit third in the Premier League with 62 points. The club were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday by Real Madrid and will face Crystal Palace on Sunday in the FA Cup semi-finals.

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