Boost for Boehly at last: Is Chelsea chairman’s luck turning?
Things are looking up for Todd Boehly: while Chelsea are enjoying their best run of form since he became chairman, another of his sports teams, the LA Dodgers, have just won baseball’s World Series.
The Dodgers secured their eighth title on Wednesday night when they clinched a 4-1 series win over the New York Yankees in a clash between the two most valuable franchises in Major League Baseball.
Hedge fund billionaire Boehly’s team came from 5-0 down to win game five 7-6 at Yankee Stadium as the hosts made a string of defensive errors.
They were not ahead on the night until the eighth inning and starting pitcher Walker Buehler, pitching in relief for the first time in six years, clinched the victory with three quick outs in the final inning.
Boehly, 51, is part of Guggenheim Baseball Management, which has owned the Dodgers since 2012 and has now overseen two World Series triumphs.
The group, headed by fellow Chelsea co-owner Mark Walter and also including former NBA basketball superstar Magic Johnson and tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King, paid $2bn to buy the franchise.
It was a world record price for a sports team at the time, but the Dodgers are now valued at $5.5bn, second only to the Yankees ($7.5bn) in baseball.
Boehly and Walter also co-own a minority stake in the LA Lakers, rated the third most valuable franchise in the NBA after the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks.
How the Dodgers won game five and the World Series
Having lost the first three games of the series, the Yankees kept their slim hopes alive with a win in game four on Tuesday night.
They looked to be carrying that momentum into Wednesday as they took a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Aaron Judge and Bahamas-born British international Jazz Chisholm Jr hit back-to-back home runs.
Alex Verdugo added another run before Giancarlo also went deep in the third inning to make it 5-0.
But defensive errors by Judge, who dropped a straightforward catch in the outfield, short stop Anthony Volpe and pitcher Gerrit Cole handed the Dodgers five unearned runs in the fifth inning.
Stanton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning edged the Yankees back in front, but the Dodgers loaded the bases – helped by another error by catcher Austin Wells – in the eighth inning, allowing Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to drive in two more runs.
The Yankees briefly threatened to rally in the eighth inning, but were unable to draw level before Buehler put the seal on the Dodgers success.
Freddie Freeman, who set a World Series record with home runs in the first four games, was named MVP.
Boehly’s rollercoaster ride at Chelsea
Boehly has been chairman of Chelsea since a consortium led by him and Clearlake Capital won the auction to buy the club in 2022.
It followed previous owner Roman Abramovich’s assets being frozen by the UK government in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chelsea embarked on a dramatic and expensive overhaul of staff on and off the field in the following 12-18 months, spending more than £1bn on transfer fees alone.
The investment failed to generate success, with the club finishing 12th, their lowest position in almost 30 years, and then sixth last season.
That turbulence was matched in the boardroom, where Boehly and Clearlake fell out over strategy and vowed to buy each other out in a dispute that remains unresolved.
But new head coach Enzo Maresca has made a promising start to life at Stamford Bridge and appears to have turned Chelsea back into contenders for the top four.