Chelsea co-owner buys MLB team

Amid the chaos at Chelsea, co-owner José E. Feliciano has agreed a deal to purchase MLB team San Diego Padres, believed to be worth a league-record $3.9 billion.

Feliciano was one of the founders of the Clearlake Capital private equity fund set up in 2006. He remains a key figure in Clearlake, which has a majority stake in the controversial Chelsea FC ownership group. After weeks of speculation, the Padres purchase was confirmed in a series of statements released on Saturday.

“The Padres are more than a baseball team; they are a unifying force in San Diego, rooted in community, connection, and belonging. As life and business partners, and as a family, we are honored to lead this next chapter together,” reads a statement from Feliciano and wife Kwanza Jones.

“We have worked hard for everything we have achieved, and we have built it together. We see that same spirit in this team and its fans, and we know what it takes to win,” the statement continues. “We are committed to showing up, listening, and earning the trust of this community, while building on the strong foundation established by the Seidler family.”

Those words will be of great interest to many fans of Chelsea who are unhappy with how the ownership group has overseen the team since taking control in 2022. Clearlake Capital and co-owner Todd Boehly have been criticized for their insistence on buying only young players in a bid to circumvent soccer’s various loss-control regulations.

Last month Chelsea parted ways with former head coach Liam Rosenior, just three months after he took charge of the Blues. Chelsea now need to name a sixth permanent head coach since Clearlake bought the club back in 2022, a shocking record for an ownership group that promised to bring best-in-class leadership to one of the world’s most illustrious clubs.

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