Chicago Cubs owners make bid to buy Chelsea official
The Ricketts family have officially submitted their bid to buy Chelsea. The Chicago Cubs owners have lodged their consortium offer for the Stamford Bridge club, ahead of merchant bank Raine Group's Friday night deadline. New York bank Raine had set a cut-off of 5pm New York time for bids for Chelsea amid frenzied interest in the sale of the Blues. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts has partnered with US hedge fund chief Ken Griffin on a potent submission, centred around sports ownership expertise and major stadium redevelopment know-how. Roman Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on March 2, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The 55-year-old was then sanctioned by the UK Government last week, after Downing Street claimed to have proved his links to Vladimir Putin. Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich has always denied those links, but had already moved to sell Chelsea amid the major geopolitical shift. Abramovich's UK assets are frozen by the UK Government but Downing Street has allowed Chelsea to continue operations under special licence.
