Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd is part of a consortium that has made an offer to purchase a stake in Premier League club Crystal Palace, sources briefed on the proposed deal have told The Athletic.
The group’s initial proposal for Eagle Football’s 45 per cent stake fell below the valuation that John Textor — the largest shareholder in Eagle and one of Palace’s four primary owners, is looking for — but it retains an interest.
Kidd, who was inducted into the basketball hall of fame and twice won gold medals with the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team, is one of five people involved in the group.
Alongside him are Morgan Stanley sports executive Bejan Esmaili, former Roc Nation attorney executive Wajid Mir and two Saudi businessmen Haider and Mansoor Syed, who have established a fund with the intention of purchasing a football club.
The Syed brothers have met with the Palace hierarchy, including Textor and chairman Steve Parish, attending a match at Selhurst Park and touring the club’s academy.
They have yet to submit an improved offer and are one of several to show an interest in Eagle Football’s shares.
A group involving the former Everton director and experienced football financier Keith Harris has also made a bid, while Stanley Tang, the co-founder of US food delivery company DoorDash has considered a purchase.
In May, Textor told The Athletic that he was actively looking to sell Eagle’s stake in Palace and he had hired investment banking firm Raine to find a suitable investor to purchase the group’s share in the club.
“We’ve reached the point where we have a significant investment in a club we hold in the minority (in Palace),” he said. “We’re having extreme success in Brazil and early on in France, (and) to not have that same level of integration with our partner in the UK… it just becomes more and more clear that that level of collaboration we want and need works.”
Eagle Football “is simply not a perfect fit for Crystal Palace,” he added.
Textor originally purchased 40 per cent of Palace in 2021 for £87.5million (now $114m), helping to fund a successful transfer window and complete the redevelopment of the academy, before increasing that stake by around five per cent with an additional £30m. Further investment has come from capital calls.
Textor believes Palace the whole club could be sold for £720m to £1.08bn but acknowledged that “nobody else believes that”. That would value his stake at between £324m and £486m, a figure likely to be prohibitive to any sale unless it is reduced.
There have been failed attempts by Textor to purchase a controlling stake in the club, which is also owned by fellow general partners Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer who each have 25 per cent of the voting rights. The latest of those attempts came in August but did not “induce a response”.
Textor’s vision for the club to further integrate it into his multi-club model is not shared and that failure to see a pathway to a majority and overall control is ultimately what has led him to look to sell his stake.
The 58-year-old, whose Eagle Football group owns controlling stakes in Ligue 1 side Lyon, Brazilian top-flight club Botafogo and Belgian club RWD Molenbeek, intends to float the group on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with an initial public offering (IPO).
Owning a controlling stake in an English club would help to increase the value of that IPO, with Textor having told The Athletic in May that he was seeking to buy Everton.
That progressed as far as entering a period of exclusivity with owner Farhad Moshiri but appears likely to be unsuccessful with the Friedkin Group, led by AS Roma owner Dan Friedkin, having agreed a takeover deal for the Merseyside club.
Textor, who received a significant number of expressions of interest, intends to progress with the sale of Eagle Football’s Palace shares and is considering the purchase of a Championship club if he is successful in offloading his stake. “We would like a team in the UK’s first or second division that we can fill the gaps with (at the other clubs) without delay,” he previously told The Athletic.
The structure of Palace’s ownership means that the club’s existing shareholders have first refusal on the purchase of Textor’s shares.
What could this mean for Palace?
For now, not much. But should a deal be reached then it would bring a different face into the ownership group which is likely to be more aligned with the existing strategy for the club.
That may unlock further funding, for example to help complete the redevelopment of Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium, with preliminary work having begun in the summer, and Croydon Council formally granting planning permission in August, or to invest in the transfer market.
The Saudi-backed group is believed to view Palace’s academy and catchment area as significantly attractive and a major advantage in building a sustainable club.
It is possible that new investment could eventually pave the way for a change in overall ownership, but that would require overcoming the obstacles that Textor has encountered in failing to persuade the existing owners to relinquish control.
(Top photo: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
