Control of the Chelsea Women’s team (part of the English soccer giant) has now passed to Blueco, the separate holding company owned by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
BlueCo, which was the vehicle used by Clearlake and Boehly to take control of Chelsea in 2022, has replaced Chelsea FC Holdings Limited as the entity with “significant control” of the women’s side. This has been disclosed via a filing with Companies House on June 28.
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This move aims to make Chelsea Women a standalone business, led by a new commercial team at Clearlake dedicated to that side’s growth. It will also, potentially, allow the club overall to conform with the English (men's) Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules for 2023-24.
Chelsea Women won the Women’s Super League (WSL) for the fifth consecutive season in 2023-24.
Through this move, any losses associated with Chelsea Women are now removed from the overall club accounts, while Chelsea Holdings will also benefit from any sale price that Blueco and Clearlake paid.
In May, Chelsea unveiled that they were mulling over a potential sale of a stake in their women's team, valued at around £150 million ($194.8 million).
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By GlobalDataAt that point, they said: “Chelsea Women will be repositioned so that it sits alongside, rather than beneath, the men’s team in a move that heralds a new era for the club.”
When the Clearlake Capital consortium bought Chelsea in May 2022, investing in the women’s side was stated as being one of its key commitments.
Back then, Chelsea stated that Boehly and Clearlake were “committed to investing in key areas that will extend and enhance Chelsea’s competitiveness, including the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge, further investment in the academy, the women’s team, and Kingsmeadow stadium."
The 2024-25 WSL will begin over the weekend of September 21-22, with Chelsea as usual one of the pre-season favorites.
Chelsea Women play most of their home games at the Kingsmeadow Ground in southwest London but do contest showpiece fixtures at the club’s Stamford Bridge main venue, which has a capacity of over 40,000.
Kingsmeadow, on the other hand, holds less than 5,000 and is a near-constant sellout for Chelsea Women fixtures.
However, that team has – so far – been unable to consistently attract crowds of above 25,000 for WSL games at Stamford Bridge, meaning the economic incentive to host more fixtures there is not as yet compelling.
