Exclusive: Chelsea in ‘unknown’ territory as Premier League acts on Boehly – expert
Chelsea find themselves in uncertain territory after the Premier League wrote to the club asking for an explanation regarding a banned ticketing service.
That is according to football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that the Blues and their owner, Todd Boehly, could find themselves in hot water, but any decision is likely a long way off.
Since arriving as the West London club’s new owner in 2022, the United States businessman has been unafraid of breaking the mould.
Chelsea’s decision to give new signings like Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk seven or eight-year-long contracts allowed the club to spread the cost of their transfer fees over a longer period of time.
The Premier League responded by limiting the spread of transfer costs to five-years, no matter the length of the contract.
Chelsea also pioneered the controversial loophole of selling their women’s team to avoid a potential sanction for failing to be compliant with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
However, their latest dalliance with the league’s rules may have gone a step too far, and the Blues could find themselves in trouble.
Premier League writes to Chelsea seeking clarification on Boehly’s involvement with Vivid Seats
As reported by The Times, the Premier League have written to Chelsea to “seek clarification over the club’s position on ticket resales”.
This has come about due to Boehly’s ownership of the third-party ticketing site, Vivid Seats.
This is not the first time the issue has been raised, as Chelsea fans called on the Premier League to take action against the US businessman in March for his ownership of the website [The Times].
Richard Masters, the CEO of the Premier League, confirmed during a meeting with the Football Supporters’ Association that “the league had written to Chelsea in light of the controversy.”
Vivid Seats was found to be selling tickets for games to see the West London side at inflated prices, with seats for the home fixture against Liverpool listed for up to £20,000.
The site cannot be used by supporters from Britain, because it is illegal to resell tickets in this way.
Chelsea in uncertain position thanks to Todd Boehly
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, finance expert Plumley explained that it would be difficult to know what sort of repercussions the club or Boehly would face until the Premier League had received a response because of the unique circumstances.
He said: “It is banned in the UK, yeah. I think, first is where we’re at, is the Premier League have written to Todd Boehly and have asked for reasons and an explanation.
“So they’ll have to review those reasons and explanations, and he has to provide those because obviously he’s the owner of the football club.
“That’ll be the way it plays out, and then the Premier League will make an independent decision on where they go next with it.
“And that’s when you’re into the realms of, so what happens next is actually a little bit unknown at the minute because they’ve got to look at the reasons and the explanation.
“The points you mentioned around that are absolutely right, that platform is banned in the UK and there’s a wider conversation there about third-party ticket sellers and that kind of secondary ticket market that, again, is much bigger than Chelsea and the Premier League.
“So we’ll have to wait for the written reasons first and get that explanation before they can move forward with anything.
“I think this one’s in play and what we’re looking at still has a way to run in terms of what the outcome could be and then what action could they take, if any.”