The deadline for Chelsea FC bidders to submit their final offers has arrived — and Todd Boehly’s group is thought to be the frontrunner, according to the BBC. 

If Boehly wins, he would beat out a consortium led by Sir Martin Broughton, the Ricketts Family Investment Group, and Stephen Pagliuca’s group. The four bidders reportedly agreed to make all-cash offers and will “not load debt onto the club.”

Boehly, who is an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers, and Sparks as well as Cloud9 and DraftKings, is estimated to be worth $4.5 billion as of Thursday — the 661st-richest person in the world.

The club is estimated to be worth $2.4 billion.

Deadline Decision

With recommendations from the Raine Group, current owner Roman Abramovich will make the final decision with the team’s board. The sale could fetch as much $3.61 billion, but it will not necessarily go to the highest bidder — Sports Business Journal reported that “the future guardianship of the club” will be prioritized.

Following Thursday’s reported 5 p.m. ET deadline, the winner is expected to be confirmed next week with approval from the U.K. government, which recently sanctioned Abramovich for his ties to Vladimir Putin. 

• On Thursday, Chelsea’s director Eugene Tenenbaum was also sanctioned. 
• Last month, Reuters reported that Abramovich handed Tenenbaum control of the club on the day of the Ukraine invasion. 

Abramovich will not be able to make money off the sale despite purchasing the team for roughly $233 million in 2003.

Weeks before the scheduled debut of Formula 1’s Miami race, local residents are suing to stop the event from happening.

Miami Gardens residents filed a lawsuit to cancel the much-anticipated race on the grounds that noise from the May 6-8 event will “cause severe disruption and physical harm to Miami Gardens residents.” 

The plaintiffs, led by former Miami-Dade County commissioner Betty Ferguson, drew on findings from an engineering firm that the race will produce noise levels up to 97 decibels, “similar to the sound levels produced by a chainsaw,” within a 2.5 mile radius.

• Lawyers for both event venue Hard Rock Stadium and Miami Gardens said the judge should not rule before the city decides if it will issue a special event permit.
• Miami-Dade circuit court judge Alan Fine echoed that sentiment, saying “Numerous courts before me have resisted the temptation to jump into something that hasn’t been issued yet. Shouldn’t I wait to see if the city manager issues the special events permit?”

Calls to Miami Garden officials from Front Office Sports were not immediately returned.

More Noise Coming

F1 is under contract to race in Miami Gardens for 10 consecutive years. In March, F1 confirmed reports from FOS by announcing that the racing series would come to Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend of 2023.

The two new U.S. races come on the heels of F1’s surge in popularity with an assist from the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive.” F1 reported a cumulative 1.5 billion viewers in 2021.

State lawmakers are exploring an additional funding plan that would help cover the costs of a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. 

An amendment to a bill in the House finance subcommittee was submitted on Wednesday that would see Nashville’s Metropolitan Council raise the city’s hotel-motel tax from 6% to 7%. 

• The 1% increase is likely to generate $10 million in additional revenue per year.
• Over a 20-year period, revenue from the increase would likely cover the $700 million Metro is spending.
• The city hopes to have an enclosed stadium by 2026, and costs could reach $2 billion.

In January, the Titans planned upgrades at Nissan Stadium that would have cost up to $600 million. A month later, the Titans pivoted to exploring the possibility of a new stadium amid rising costs associated with the upgrades. 

In March, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee met with members of the state’s legislature to request $500 million in bonds for the construction.

Playing the Long Game

The Titans’ current lease requires the city of Nashville to pay for maintenance, and the team is owed at least $25 million in completed repairs. Even though the Titans are expected to pay nearly double the estimated cost of the upgrades to build a new stadium, the move is considered a long-term financial decision.