New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has agreed on a £190 million deal ($254m) to buy a 43% stake in Premier League team Crystal Palace from American businessman John Textor, a source has told ESPN.
The agreement is subject to Premier League approval and Johnson — a former United States ambassador to the United Kingdom — passing the league’s Owners and Directors’ Test, otherwise known at the Fit and Proper Persons Test.
The Premier League declined to comment when approached by ESPN.
A source familiar with the deal has told ESPN that confirmation of the agreement between Johnson and Textor is likely to come Monday morning.
Should Johnson’s agreement with Textor be approved by the Premier League, it would pave the way for Palace, the 2024-25 FA Cup winners, to play in next season’s UEFA Europa League and end the prospect of the club breaching multiclub ownership rules due to Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings Group also having a controlling stake in French club Lyon.
Palace have yet to be cleared to play in the Europa League due to ongoing negotiations between the club and UEFA.
ESPN has contacted UEFA for comment.
Although Textor has no day-to-day involvement in the running of Palace, who are controlled by chairman Steve Parish and U.S. investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer, UEFA rules prevent two teams with the same ownership playing in the same competition unless shares in one club are placed into a blind trust.
Textor failed to place his Palace or Lyon shares in such a vehicle by the UEFA deadline of March 1 — more than two months before Palace secured Europa League qualification by winning the FA Cup.
However, as reported by ESPN earlier this month, Textor has been attempting to offload his Palace shares, with Johnson emerging as the leading candidate to buy his stake.
Johnson, 78, served as the U.S. ambassador to the UK between 2017 and 2021and he made a failed bid to buy Chelsea after previous owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Johnson has previously declared himself to be a Chelsea supporter.
