When the BlueCo consortium became majority owners of Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg in June 2023, it marked the beginning of another multi-club ownership model.
BlueCo, the same financial vehicle used to purchase Chelsea Football Club in May 2022, consists of private equity firm Clearlake Capital, chairman and significant minority shareholder Todd Boehly, and minority shareholders Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss.
Their purchase of the Blues in May 2022 followed a failed attempt by Boehly in 2019, with the three years between providing further time to muster up a financial master plan, one that now includes additional investment and ownership of a second club.
Boehly and his BlueCo associates are businessmen first and foremost, not football purists, as is the case with most owners of elite clubs. Boehly himself has incurred incredible wealth through successful financial deals, ranging from orchestrating TV rights for the Los Angeles Dodgers (a baseball team that he now has a 20% stake in) to involvement in the acquisition of Bruce Springsteen’s song portfolio.
Football is a different ball game, though. Chelsea’s recruitment drive began as anything but financially savvy following BlueCo’s takeover. Long-term contracts were handed out to new signings in a bid to bypass Financial FairPlay, prompting UEFA to impose a five-year limit on how long a transfer fee can be spread out.