Crystal Palace owners explore sale

The US billionaire owners of Crystal Palace are exploring a sale of the south London football club, in what would make it the latest Premier League side to change hands in English football’s top flight. According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, speaking to the Financial Times, the club is working with bankers at Raine Group to handle the process and is open to a variety of options including a full sale. T

The people added that other options for securing new capital were also on the table. The club’s current ownership group includes Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, former Blackstone executive David Blitzer and Woody Johnson, a member of the family behind the Johnson & Johnson healthcare empire.

The trio are designated as “significant shareholders” alongside British businessman Steve Parish, who has been executive chair of the club since 2010 and is a life-long Palace fan. Harris and Blitzer together control 30 per cent, while Parish has 10 per cent.

Johnson, who owns the New York Jets NFL team and was the US ambassador to the UK during the first Trump administration, is the biggest shareholder after acquiring a 43 per cent stake last year at a valuation of £550mn. A person familiar with the matter told the Pibk ‘Un that the sale of a controlling stake could help to secure a superior price.

Palace, as the club is known, has become a Premier League mainstay since being promoted in 2013 and is enjoying its most successful period on the pitch. The team won the FA Cup in 2025 after beating Manchester City in the final — the first major trophy in the club’s history. In May, the side beat Spain’s Rayo Vallecano to win the Europa Conference League. Both victories came under Austrian coach Oliver Glasner, who left the club last month at the end of his contract.

On Monday Palace confirmed the appointment of Pierre Sage as Glasner’s replacement. Last season Sage led French club Lens to a second-place finish in the league and victory in the Coupe de France.

The potential sale comes as Palace pushes to modernise its creaking Selhurst Park stadium, parts of which date back to the 1920s. The club has been working on a plan to rebuild one stand, which would expand overall capacity by 8,000 to more than 34,000 people.

However, the project has dragged on for several years, in part due to surging cost projections. One person familiar with the matter said the club was exploring its financing options related to the stadium redevelopment and ahead of a second season of European football.

Palace, which made a pre-tax profit of £8.3mn on revenues of £196.6mn in 2024-25, was 25th in Deloitte’s ranking of the richest clubs in football last year. Harris and Blitzer previously explored the purchase of Chelsea FC from tycoon Roman Abramovich in 2022, but lost out to private capital group Clearlake Capital and US financier Todd Boehly. The duo have a long history of investing in sports teams together, including the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team and the New Jersey Devils ice hockey franchise. Harris also led the $6bn acquisition of the Washington Commanders NFL franchise in 2023, and has since announced plans for a new stadium expected to cost close to $4bn.

While the market for selling football clubs has cooled since several record-breaking deals in 2022, Premier League teams have continued to attract interest from investors. Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský agreed on Saturday to increase his stake in West Ham United. In March, Brentford attracted further investment from minority shareholders filmmaker Sir Matthew Vaughn and South African businessman Gary Lubner.

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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