Premier League clears Chelsea’s £76m ‘Associated Party’ sale of two hotels to aid PSR compliance | OneFootball

As reported by James Olley of ESPN, the Premier League have cleared Chelsea’s £76.5million sale of two hotels to a sister company, thus aiding the club in their compliance with the league’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

PSR allows all Premier League clubs to accumulate losses of up to £105m over a three-year period, or £35m per year, on a rolling basis. These losses do not include investments in youth development, women’s football, and infrastructure.

Chelsea’s compliance with said regulations have been previously questioned, due to The Blues’ £89.9m loss in the 2022/23 financial year. This loss would have been £166.4m had it not been for the sale of the Millennium and Copthorne hotels from Chelsea FC Holdings Ltd to BlueCo 22 Properties Ltd – both of which are subsidiaries of Chelsea’s holding company, Blueco 22 Ltd.

Associated Party Transactions (APT) such as these – which are transactions between companies or people who have a significant interest a club, financially or otherwise – are subject to inspection by the Premier League as to whether they are considered to be “at fair market value”, as per the division’s APT rules.

If a club conducts such a deal that is not not deemed to be at fair value, they could be liable to sanctions by the league, as was confirmed in March after Premier League clubs voted to toughen rules on said transactions.

As such, many of Chelsea’s Premier League rivals were reported to have questioned the validity of such sales, which, if found to have not been of fair market value, could have seen the club face a potential financial sanction or points deduction. These sanctions could have arisen due to Chelsea being in breach of both APT rules, but also PSR rules, as their losses for the assessed period would have been significantly higher than their initial financial reports.

However, as per ESPN’s sources, the hotel sales have now been reviewed by the Premier League, and the fees were found to be within an acceptable margin to their estimated market values had they been sold to another buyer.

A source contacted by ESPN close to to Clearlake capital, the majority owners of the Stamford Bridge club, told the sports media company that the club are confident in complying with PSR regulations in the 2024/25 financial year and the previous seasons.

Chelsea’s hotel sales pose yet another question over associated party transactions, which, at the Premier League’s Annual General Meeting in June, underwent a vote over a potential ban in the English top flight, however only received 11 out of 14 votes needed from the 20 clubs in order to see such a ban imposed.

Travis Levison | Get Football