Football
ESPN staff 8y

Crystal Palace set for deal with 76ers owner Joshua Harris - sources

Crystal Palace are set to become the next Premier League club with American investment, as Philadelphia 76ers owner Joshua Harris is on the verge of buying a shareholding in the club with his business partner David Blitzer, sources have told ESPN FC.

Palace have entered administration twice in recent years, under Mark Goldberg and Simon Jordan, but have stabilised under the care of chairman Steve Parish since 2010 when he saved the club from liquidation as part of the CPFC 2010 group.

The Premier League side are currently 10th in the table, after a fine start to the season under manager Alan Pardew and, are reportedly worth in the region of £100 million.

Harris, a private equity investor worth a reported $4 billion, began to support the Eagles after watching them on TV in America and has flown to Selhurst Park a number of times to watch them in action.

Indeed, sources told ESPN FC that Harris is keen to purchase an 18 percent stake in Palace, with Parish and Blitzer also maintaining the same stake, with the remaining 46 percent a combination of the three existing CPFC 2010 investors and new American investors.

Harris and Blitzer, who also own NHL side New Jersey Devils, targeted Palace because the pair saw similarities with Philadelphia -- South London is booming amid a £5.2bn regeneration plan and 7,000 new homes being built -- while plans for a redevelopment of Selhurst Park are in the works.

If a deal is struck, it would add to the three Premier League clubs who already have American ownership: Liverpool (Fenway Sports), Arsenal (Stan Kroenke) and Aston Villa (Randy Lerner).

However, unlike some of the other clubs, Parish will maintain a prominent place in the running of Palace on a day-to-day basis; a move which sources told ESPN FC is designed to protect "the soul and ethos of the club."

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