Lewis Hamilton Joins Bid For Chelsea FC

Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams are among the investors backing Sir Martin Broughton’s bid to buy Chelsea.

BBC Sport reports that both Hamilton and Williams have been involved in the bid from the start but would have no say on footballing decisions. It is thought that the pair have pledged £10m each.  

The sport stars are no strangers to financial investments. Serena Ventures, the tennis star’s venture capital fund, this week announced an investment in OpenSponsorship, a British-based sports technology start-up, while Hamilton has backed a range of early-stage companies such as Zapp, the London-based rapid grocery delivery app. Now, they both look to add a Premier League club to their portfolios.

Sky News suggest that Hamilton would be likely to play a formal role in Chelsea’s future efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion if the bid is successful. He and Williams have both been advocates in their respective sports and beyond in promoting equality, lending their names to numerous anti-discrimination initiatives.

World Athletics president and Chelsea fan Lord Coe is also part of the group that is spearheaded by Sir Martin Broughton, the former Liverpool and British Airways chairman.

Other investors in the Broughton-led bid include the Rogers family, who are based in Canada and own media and telecoms company Rogers Communications, chair of the Houston 2026 World Cup bid committee John Arnold, and the Tsai family from Taiwan, which owns two baseball teams.

The group faces competition to buy Chelsea from consortiums led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and co-owner of the Boston Celtics Stephen Pagliuca.

American investment Raine Group, the group that has been managing the sale, is unlikely to name a preferred bidder week, but once one it is chosen, it is expected that there will be little opposition from the Premier League or government.