Chelsea's sale is facing new delays.
The Daily Mail says bidders for the club are struggling to make the math work on bids of around £2.5billion because of a potential requirement to renovate the home ground — as opposed to moving elsewhere.
It has also emerged that another stage in the bidding process has been introduced, with one of the three interested parties to be eliminated this week. It was originally thought a preferred bidder would be chosen from the three remaining consortia.
"Without moving the stadium, the sums don't work," a source said. "They're private equity guys and want to make a profit in the long term. No matter how glamorous the trophies are, the sums don't work without moving the stadium if the deal is for £2.5bn."
Raine Group, the American bank administrating the sale, requires bidders to offer commitments on the future of the stadium. It is long overdue a rebuild. The source said that if the bidders have to guarantee renovating it in their final proposals, the value of their bids are likely to drop.
"They will probably knock the price down. Everyone's talking about it, it's just no one's talking about in the public domain," the source said.
Observers close to the situation said they expected Boston Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca's bid to be eliminated this week, as it is not offering anything new. The proposals from Sir Martin Broughton and Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers-part owner, will then likely progress.
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