Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, has reached a £190 million deal ($254 million) to purchase a 43% share in Crystal Palace, a Premier League team, from American businessman John Textor, as announced by the club on Monday.
This agreement still needs approval from the Premier League, and Johnson—who previously served as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom—must also pass the league’s Owners and Directors’ Test, often referred to as the Fit and Proper Persons Test.
“While we await approval from both the Premier League and Women’s Super League, we do not expect any issues and are excited to welcome Woody as a partner and director of the club,” Crystal Palace stated.
“We want to express our gratitude to John Textor for his contributions over the last four years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
If the Premier League approves Johnson’s deal with Textor, it will allow Palace, who won the FA Cup in 2024-25, to compete in next season’s UEFA Europa League. This would also prevent any issues regarding multiclub ownership rules since Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings Group owns a controlling share in the French club Lyon.
Palace still needs approval to play in the Europa League because they are currently in talks with UEFA.
Even though Textor doesn’t manage Palace on a daily basis, the club is under the control of chairman Steve Parish and U.S. investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer. UEFA rules state that two teams with the same ownership cannot compete in the same tournament unless shares in one of the clubs are put into a blind trust.
Textor did not move his shares in Palace or Lyon into such a trust by the UEFA deadline of March 1, which was more than two months before Palace earned a spot in the Europa League by winning the FA Cup.
However, ESPN reported earlier this month that Textor has been trying to sell his shares in Palace, with Johnson being the top choice to purchase his stake.
Johnson, who is 78 years old, served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. from 2017 to 2021 and previously made an unsuccessful attempt to buy Chelsea after sanctions were placed on its former owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, by the U.K. government in 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Johnson has also stated that he is a supporter of Chelsea.
