‘Todd Boehly in serious position after controversial Chelsea payment revealed’
Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has faced criticism from the club’s supporters after making some controversial decisions at Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League side have largely underperformed on the pitch over the past couple of years despite spending around £1.5billion on new signings since Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake Capital took over in May 2022.
Boehly’s involvement in Vivid Seats has caused unrest among Chelsea fans in recent weeks.
The London giants’ chairman is a director of the American site, which facilitates the resale of Premier League match tickets at up to £20,000.
In an open letter to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust has asked the league to “act and investigate” Boehly’s involvement in the company.
Chelsea’s latest accounts revealed Vivid Seats made a £93,000 payment to the club that was listed under “transactions with related parties”.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Boehly is “inviting criticism” following his involvement with Vivid Seats.
Chelsea fans protested against their owners ahead of the 4-0 victory over Southampton in February after growing increasingly frustrated with their running of the club.
Todd Boehly inviting criticism after Chelsea reveal
Borson revealed Boehly holds a “serious” position with Vivid Seats following the recent controversy.
He told Football Insider: “It’s not that significant.
“It’s £93,000, which in the grand scheme of any club in the Premier League is not very meaningful.
“Some of the seats that have been sold on Vivid are very expensive.
“It might only be 250 or 300 seats, who knows? It’s very insignificant.
“I wondered whether Todd Boehly just happened to be a very passive shareholder and one of many, but it turns out that he’s clearly in a position of significant influence because he’s a related party by the accounting rules and, therefore, that’s why we see the disclosure that we do in their accounts.
“He’s definitely got a serious position in respect to Vivid and, therefore, he’s just inviting criticism even though the number itself and the number of tickets that are involved are largely insignificant, I would say.
“I think from a PR perspective it’s just not a battle he needs to be fighting, but he doesn’t need my advice on that.”
| Position | Team | Played | Points | GD |
| 1 | Liverpool | 31 | 73 | +42 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 32 | 63 | +30 |
| 3 | Nottingham Forest | 32 | 57 | +13 |
| 4 | Man City | 32 | 55 | +20 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 32 | 54 | +3 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 31 | 53 | +17 |
| 7 | Newcastle United | 30 | 53 | +13 |
Chelsea well placed to agree lucrative shirt deal
Football Insider revealed on 11 April Chelsea are well placed to agree a lucrative front-of-shirt sponsorship deal if they qualify for the Champions League.
Enzo Maresca’s side have played without a primary shirt sponsor throughout the current campaign after their deal with Infinite Athlete expired last summer.
Stamford Bridge chiefs have now turned their attention to a shirt deal for next season, with Todd Kline spearheading their commercial operations following his arrival from Tottenham.
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