Chelsea owner Todd Boehly ploughs near £40m into cricket franchise | OneFootball

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has agreed a deal to invest close to £40m in Trent Rockets, one of eight cricket teams involved in The Hundred.

Founded in 2019, Trent Rockets compete in the latest short-form game introduced to English cricket and marks Boehly's expansion into UK sport beyond football.

First reported by the Telegraph and then corroborated elsewhere, the deal sees Boehly purchase a 49% stake in Trent Rockets with businessman Jonathan Goldstein, also part of Chelsea's BlueCo ownership group. Nottinghamshire CCC will retain the controlling 51% stake.

The buy-in for just under £40m values Trent Rockets at £79m. Boehly and Goldstein had previously been interested in taking a stake in London Spirit, missing out to an American consortium.

Birmingham City co-owner Tom Brady's Knighthead Capital group has already bought a 49% in Birmingham Phoenix as the NFL legend extends his grip on sport in the West Midlands.

Boehly, serving as Chelsea chairman since 2022, is a billionaire who made his fortune in investment and finance. His sporting portfolio began with a 20% stake in the LA Dodgers, who won baseball's World Series in 2020 and 2024, and grew to include stakes in the LA Lakers and LA Sparks.

A year after the Chelsea takeover, French football club Strasbourg joined the BlueCo stable in a £65m deal to become a sister club and farm team for Chelsea.