Crystal Palace valued at £900m and hire Raine Group to explore investment or sale
Crystal Palace’s owners have valued the club at £900m and hired the Raine Group to field interest in investment or a possible sale, multiple sources have told City AM.
The £900m figure is more than double the valuation at which Woody Johnson acquired 43 per cent of the south London club a little over a year ago, for a reported £190m.
But Johnson and fellow owners Josh Harris, David Blitzer and chairman Steve Parish believe the rising valuations of sport teams, the scarcity of London Premier League clubs and Palace’s recent success in the Conference League justify the ask of close to £1bn.
Palace declined to comment but have made no secret of the fact that investment is required to complete their Selhurst Park expansion. Sources close to the 2025 FA Cup winners insist that investment, not a sale, is their priority.
The NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball have all seen franchise values hit record highs this year, while Formula 1 team valuations have rocketed off the back of its growth in global popularity and strict cost-controls.
In football, Liverpool achieved an implied valuation of £5.5bn in August when a consortium led by Amit Bhatia and including the world’s second richest person, Jeff Bezos, bought a minority stake in the Premier League club.
The entry of Bezos at that price point has encouraged English football clubs to court interest of their own. The Raine Group is among the most prominent brokers, having run the sale processes for Chelsea, Manchester United and cricket’s The Hundred.
Palace seeking finance for stadium expansion
The search for fresh investment in Palace comes amid the stalling of plans to renovate their dated stadium, Selhurst Park. Major works, including a new glass-fronted main stand and an increase in capacity from 25,000 to 34,000, were announced in 2017.
Parish admitted last week that the club did not yet have all the financing in place to complete the project, for which costs have spiralled.
“We’re looking at different ways of funding, but that will be in place,” he told The Athletic. “We’re working with people on that, talking to the banks. It’s more managing the construction, processing inflation and trying to reduce some costs.
“But the reason that everybody hasn’t got a shiny new stadium is that the money will always go to the team. We spent on the team, which is the more recent reason that it isn’t fully going on.”
Palace are competing in the Europa League, the second most prestigious of the European club competitions, this season for the first time in their history after winning the Conference League last term.
They have also recently made improvements to their training complex and academy centre in Beckenham, south-east London, both of which could be expanded after Palace agreed a deal to buy a neighbouring 27-acre site belonging to HSBC.
Johnson, the former US ambassador to the UK who owns the New York Jets NFL team, bought out John Textor’s stake in July 2025. It followed concerns raised by Uefa at Textor also owning a majority stake in French side Lyon, and resulted in Palace being demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League.