Q. How is this deal different from all the others you have been involved with?

A: I've probably been involved in 75 different sports team deals. We created NBA China, the Indian Premier League, the Premier Lacrosse League, and the Caribbean Premier League. I probably sold 15 NBA teams and Japanese baseball teams.

When you sell a team, typically the guy wants the most money. And this is the first time the seller doesn't get any of it. Roman Abramovich was not allowed to take anything out of that, he couldn't get a nickel.

We established the broad economic terms, which was £2.5 billion would go into an independent charity to benefit victims of the Ukraine war and £1.75 billion would be invested into various aspects of Chelsea Football Club - the women's team, the stadium, the club, the training facilities, etc

So, it wasn't about maximising the price. He didn't care about the price. What he cared about was we satisfied his desire for the charity and commitment to the club. And he cared about his legacy and the quality of the new owner.

Q. What clinched the deal for Todd Boehly's group?

A: The new buyer had to agree to things like no dividends for 10 years, limitations on debt, and a lot of other restrictions that a typical buyer of a company or an asset or sports team won't want to agree to.

We built a lot of legal provisions in the agreement that mandated an investment in the club and prevented the new owners from taking cash out for themselves.

And we needed somebody who would be approved and close the deal with speed and certainty. There was a general view that Todd and his group were the most able to move quickly. Todd was well-versed in the details and able to make decisions on the spot and that gave us confidence in his ability to complete the transaction.

Q. If he cannot receive dividends for 10 years, what is Todd Boehly and his group in it for then?

A: Capital appreciation. Look at the clubs that are producing losses. In 2005, the Glazers bought Manchester United for around £800 million, which was made up of about £600 million of debt and £200 million of equity. Their £200 million of equity is now worth at least US$2 billion (S$2.87 billion); they got all their money back and more.

Q. What gives you the confidence to say the top EPL clubs will be worth more than US$10 billion in five years?

A: People don't look at sports teams based upon their profit and loss. There's an intrinsic value.

If you look at Chelsea, we probably had more than 250 enquiries, we ended up with 26 strong bids, and we picked four finalists. And that was in a process where we had war, sanctions, government licences to deal with and two weeks to get this all done.

The fact is, the big important clubs do not come up for sale very often. And I can assure you, if this had been a normal process, and we had six months to get a deal done, I could have doubled the price.

So it's not a big leap forward to say that a global club like Chelsea, which comes up for sale once every 25 years, will easily be worth double in five years.

Q. So you feel we are not anywhere near the ceiling yet?

A: No. I've been doing this for a very long time. Back in 2008 when there was the financial crisis, I got a lot of people calling me and wanting to buy sports teams at a discount because every other asset class was being sold at a discount.

And I said, they're not gonna sell. The sports teams were still subsidised by the national media deals, national contracts, the owners were still wealthy, and there's no one who's going to sell a team unless they had to sell in distress.

There's never been a period of time where sports teams declined in value as an asset class, and I can think of only one or two examples where sports team owners have lost money on the resale of a team.

The risk you have is relegation in the United Kingdom. Aston Villa were relegated, which hurt the value of the club because they were no longer part of the Premier League. Fundamentally, it comes back to doing well on the pitch.

Q. Where are the potential areas of growth for EPL clubs?

A: If you own an American sports franchise, it's like having a McDonald's or a Starbucks franchise, and the club are actually really owned by the league, and you own 3 per cent of the league.

So when the Houston Rockets signed Yao Ming, and became very big-named in China because of their affiliation with Yao Ming, they couldn't do anything in China, to the extent that anything they did in China, it would be done by the NBA, and the Rockets would get only three cents of every dollar.

Top European football clubs own their own intellectual property, buildings, rights, global bases and fan bases.

Chelsea have more fans in Asean than in the UK and more fans in China than in the UK. Chelsea can do a lot in this part of the world. And you know how many employees Chelsea have in Asia right now? Zero.

Barcelona have over 20 academies in China, and a significant number of employees. So, there's a lot more these clubs can do in this part of the world, let alone a variety of other geographies.

There are also so many different areas in which sports generally is going to benefit from.

I sat down recently with the commissioner of one of the major US sports leagues. He sold their B2B data, and the new contract is paying over US$100 million a year.

They are generating more money from non-fungible tokens, and from sports betting, which is still broadly not legal in the US.

These are revenue streams that no one even knew existed or could have anticipated.

Look at the success of the EPL in the US. I think through the last three contracts, EPL broadcast rights in the US have tripled in value, ratings are off the charts and super successful. I think that will continue to be the case.

The big European clubs stand out. And again, there's multiple tournaments that can go on. We were working on developing an expanded Club World Cup for Fifa. Because of Covid-19, it fell apart, but I can see that coming back at some point as a competitor to the Champions League.

Q. Is it inevitable that fans will bear the brunt of rising prices and one day decide it is too expensive to follow EPL clubs?

A: If I were the owner of a club or managing a club, I would be careful not to alienate the fan base. Some owners have alienated their fan bases and it's a shame. But there's obviously no reason to do so because a lot of the revenue that's being generated doesn't come from having to charge consumers more.

Roman Abramovich didn't raise ticket prices in Chelsea for 20 years, he made the club very successful and won lots of championships, and the fans loved him.