Chelsea potential ownership insight: The Ricketts family

Tom Ricketts

Heading this bid is the 55-year-old Ricketts son who took charge of the Chicago Cubs back in 2009. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Joseph and Marlene, Tom Ricketts moved to Chicago in 1983 to attend university—joining his older brother, Peter. Ricketts graduated and worked in the banking and financial sector focusing on stocks and bonds. He went on to co-form Incapital LLC in 1999. Ricketts is very much a money man, nothing personal, but perhaps not the ideal type of person to take custody of Chelsea Football Club.

Our current owner has always provided more than just cash to the club he bought in 2003. His passion from the sidelines always impressed and whilst he’s leaving, the next incumbents must share the same kind of passion Abramovich did. That said, Ricketts own one of the world’s best-known baseball teams, so he surely gets what it means to buy into the dreams and visions of a worldwide fanbase.

Obviously, concerns have been raised by supporters around the Ricketts bid. The concerns centre on leaked emails by Joe Ricketts and statements made by Peter that do not conform to today’s ideals on inclusivity. Setting that aside—not because it’s of no consequence, but because it has all been well documented—Tom is not directly connected with those issues. Neither Joe nor Peter seem to be part of the bidding process, although it’s obviously difficult to detach them in the same way Abramovich is linked to Vladimir Putin.

The Ricketts family met with Blues fan groups, including The Chelsea Supporters Trust, to address some of those concerns. Ricketts had this to say following that meeting:

"“My family and I are very grateful to all the fans and supporters’ groups who took time to meet with us this week and share their passion and concerns for Chelsea Football Club. It’s clear you have nothing but the best interests of the club at heart. We have listened to all of your feedback and are grateful that the door is still open for us to demonstrate our commitment to working with fans to protect the club’s heritage. It is now up to us to redouble our efforts and clearly lay out a vision for our stewardship of the club with diversity and inclusion at its heart.”"

The Chelsea Supporters Trust remained unconvinced, stating:

"“The CST still has concerns about the ability of the Ricketts family to run an inclusive, successful club. If they are unable to address these & gain the confidence of supporters, we do not believe it would be in the best interests of our members for the bid to succeed.”"

There is still work to do for Tom Ricketts and there are protests planned before this weekend’s game at home to Brentford. It would appear that Blues fans and supporters really don’t want this bid to succeed and that’s hard to fight against.

Also on the bidding team are two of Joe’s other children, Todd and Laura. Like his older brother, Todd is a financier and has more recently moved into politics becoming Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee. Laura has a legal background and is politically opposed to her siblings being a Democrat. Interestingly, given the diversity problems being cited, she was the first openly gay owner of a sports franchise when she joined the Cubs board. Laura’s inclusion just goes to show that not all Ricketts are bad. However, the heinous comments made by her family members may just be too much to ignore at the end of the day.