Todd Boehly has rarely been viewed in a positive light during his Chelsea tenure thus far, but, with the news of the club appointing a new task force to spearhead a Stamford Bridge redevelopment, that may be set to change, however briefly.
£2 billion is the expected cost of those renovations, and considering the Blues have already spent north of a billion pounds on players under the American, that figure is surprisingly believable.
Chelsea appoint task force for Stamford Bridge redevelopment
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Who is on the task force?
Initially, the task force was predominantly headed by a club executive by the name of Jonathan Goldstein, aided by Janet Smith. Smith was specifically headhunted for the project by Boehly himself after the architect successfully completed renovations on the LA Dodgers' stadium in America.
But, with Smith pausing her involvement, a brand new task force has been selected – again headed mostly by two people. The first is Chris Jurasek, while the second is Jason Gannon – both of whom are executives at the club. While no longer in charge of the project, Goldstein also remains involved and his position as CEO of the property development company Cain International will likely be a huge asset to the West London outfit.
Gannon, who is currently Chelsea's Chief Operating Officer, brings plenty to the table himself, and his previous role as the managing director of the incredible SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is sure to provide him with plenty of experience and nous in this area.
Stamford Bridge redevelopment
At this stage, it has been reported that the club are still considering a total of three options regarding the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge. The first of which is a complete rebuild of the facility, while the second is a more pragmatic, stand-by-stand approach. The third, and perhaps most controversial, option being considered is moving to a whole new site altogether – something which Chelsea fans have always strongly been against.
Regardless of what option is ultimately selected, it is believed that Boehly and Clearlake are prepared to fork out at least £2 billion on the renovations.
Chelsea Pitch Owners
A massive obstacle standing in the way of any redevelopment, however, is the immensely powerful fan group ‘Chelsea Pitch Owners' (CPO).
CPO are the company that holds the freehold of Stamford Bridge and also owns the name Chelsea FC. As a result, they also have a very strong say in any and all developments at the ground, and if they oppose a renovation, it is incredibly hard to bypass them – just ask Roman Abramovich.
They are extremely tough nuts to crack, and when the former Chelsea owner attempted to buy back the land upon which Stamford Bridge is built, he fell some way short of the 75% of the shares he needed to force the move through. There is little reason to believe that CPO would be any less vigilant this time around either.
CPO have always been vocal about their desire to remain at Stamford Bridge, so getting them on board with any renovations at the ground must be a priority for the new task force.