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March 28 2024 2.32pm

Washington Commanders (nee Redskins)

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 22 Mar 23 7.40pm Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

I don't know if it's been reported elsewhere on the board, but Josh Harris is now formally bidding to purchase the Washington Commanders NFL team. Purchase price: $5.6 billion. I guess lack of funds isn't the reason we have a pathetically undernourished squad.

 

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View Jimenez's Profile Jimenez Flag SELHURSTPARKCHESTER,DA BRONX 22 Mar 23 8.45pm Send a Private Message to Jimenez Add Jimenez as a friend

[Link]


A little more info.

 


Pro USA & Israel

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View Ginger Pubic Wig's Profile Ginger Pubic Wig Flag Wickham de L'Ouest 22 Mar 23 9.36pm Send a Private Message to Ginger Pubic Wig Add Ginger Pubic Wig as a friend

I see Bezos is also interested. Perhaps he'd like a soulful south London football team in his portfolio as well

 


If you want to live in a world full of kindness, respect and love, try to show these qualities.

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Yellow Card - User has been warned of conduct on the messageboards View Hrolf The Ganger's Profile Hrolf The Ganger Flag 22 Mar 23 10.03pm Send a Private Message to Hrolf The Ganger Add Hrolf The Ganger as a friend

Originally posted by sydtheeagle

I don't know if it's been reported elsewhere on the board, but Josh Harris is now formally bidding to purchase the Washington Commanders NFL team. Purchase price: .6 billion. I guess lack of funds isn't the reason we have a pathetically undernourished squad.

You do understand that under fair play rules, we can't just spend unlimited money.

The club is trying to increase its revenue in order to compete with mid table clubs.

 

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View southnorwoodhill's Profile southnorwoodhill Flag 23 Mar 23 9.09am Send a Private Message to southnorwoodhill Add southnorwoodhill as a friend

Originally posted by Ginger Pubic Wig

I see Bezos is also interested. Perhaps he'd like a soulful south London football team in his portfolio as well

Selhurst Park could be redeveloped as an Amazon key distribution hub, jobs for locals...

 

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View ASCPFC's Profile ASCPFC Flag Pro-Cathedral/caravan park 23 Mar 23 9.15am Send a Private Message to ASCPFC Add ASCPFC as a friend

It took me ages to work out if it was the Redskins. One has just to think a few hundred million would do us.

 


Red and Blue Army!

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View Elpis's Profile Elpis Flag In a pub 23 Mar 23 9.29am Send a Private Message to Elpis Add Elpis as a friend

I think the key here is that Harris is bidding on behalf of a group of investors (including a billionaire Rales and Magic Johnson )

I get the feeling the guy likes to have his name on the door without risking too much of his own fortune

 


And we still need a striker

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 23 Mar 23 12.08pm Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

Originally posted by Elpis

I get the feeling the guy likes to have his name on the door without risking too much of his own fortune

It actually seems a little more complex that that. Josh Harris' ownership of Palace needs a little unraveling in my opinion.

His primary vehicle for his sports ownership interests is HBSE (Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment). The Philadephia 76'ers, New Jersey Devils, the Prudential Center, and various other sports-related interests are housed within that company. But not Palace. So we gain no benefit at all from the wealth and diverse interests of said vehicle.

He also has a traditional private equity firm - 26North Partners LP - which invests in standard assets (credit, insurance, etc.) This was launched last year and is a serious player in its market.

Palace seems to be isolated; the shares owned by Harris and Blitzer as individuals, rather than as part of their larger and more influential investment vehicles which have the attendant wealth of Harris' other investors behind them. Put another way, if the Philadephia 76ers want to sign a player (or whatever), the money comes from the sums available within/raised by HBSE (which, as has been pointed out, might include amounts other from investors like Magic Johnson). In contrast, if Palace wants to buy a player or build a stand, Harris and Blitzer seemingly have to dip into their own pockets.

Beyond that, our ownership structure is somewhat arcane.

The football club is housed within one company - CPFC Limited. Selhurst Park is housed within a second company (which doesn't actively trade, but owns the ground) - CPFC Selhurst Park Limited. CPFC Ltd. runs the club's day-to-day operations (what you think of as "Palace", but ownership/funding appears to be channeled through a third (holding) company - CPFC Midco limited. I'm not a financial expert but I imagine this sort of administrative approach isn't that unusual. Nevertheless, we should be aware of it. Harris, Blitzer, Textor, and Parish hold the reigns of all three companies.

The other interesting note is that recent filings makes clear that such investment as has been made in the club of late is entirely down to Textor's injection of cash (for his shares). Parish, Blitzer, and Harris show a marked disinclination to fund the development of the club in any way; when doing so was last needed, they went out and found Textor rather than committing any money themselves. It's little wonder that Parish and Textor appear not to get on. Textor has handed over his cash to partners who in no way match his ambition or vision for the club, and he has done so without having any real say in how the club is run, a function ceded by the majority of the shareholders to Parish. Textor is at least somewhat ambitious for his holdings; Parish, Harris, and Blitzer are demonstrably not.

In light of the realities above, it seems to me reasonable to conclude that:

1. Harris and Blitzer would clearly like to divest themselves of their interest in Palace. I'm not sure why they bought us in the first place. Presumably, after arriving they soured for whatever reasons on the original plan they had. But this is not a seller's market for a club like Palace so unless they get lucky finding a buyer, we may be stuck with them (and them with us) for a while yet.

2. Parish is loving life. He's drawing a small fortune from the club in salary, putting nothing into the club (except the work he's paid to do - and he's well remunerated for that), and he's "working for" two other shareholders who are as disinclined to put their own money into the club to grow it as he is. I suspect he's tasked with little more than maintaining PL status at the minimum cost necessary. For him, sweet. Unlike Blitzer and Harris, he's in no rush to sell his shares as he's richly rewarded for running the club without personally taking any financial risks, and he basks in the limelight of doing so. He also knows that when a sale does eventually come, he'll cash in too.

3. Textor probably isn't happy. He wants to be involved in at least somewhat ambitious football clubs (even if we don't like his multi-club operational model) and he's prepared to put his money where his mouth is to achieve success. But as a minority owner, if his partners at Palace don't share that vision then there's not much he can do.

In short, we're not in a great place right now off the pitch, let alone on it.

 


Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

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View TheBigToePunt's Profile TheBigToePunt Flag 23 Mar 23 3.17pm Send a Private Message to TheBigToePunt Add TheBigToePunt as a friend

Originally posted by Hrolf The Ganger

You do understand that under fair play rules, we can't just spend unlimited money.

The club is trying to increase its revenue in order to compete with mid table clubs.

Honestly, I wouldn't even bother Hrolf.

I've given up trying to remind people that we could have an owner with the combined wealth of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bill Gates and Mr Burns and would still only be able to spend what the club can generate.

 

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View Midlands Eagle's Profile Midlands Eagle Flag 23 Mar 23 4.07pm Send a Private Message to Midlands Eagle Add Midlands Eagle as a friend

Originally posted by sydtheeagle

our ownership structure is somewhat arcane.

The football club is housed within one company - CPFC Limited. Selhurst Park is housed within a second company (which doesn't actively trade, but owns the ground) - CPFC Selhurst Park Limited. CPFC Ltd. runs the club's day-to-day operations (what you think of as "Palace", but ownership/funding appears to be channeled through a third (holding) company - CPFC Midco limited. I'm not a financial expert but I imagine this sort of administrative approach isn't that unusual. Nevertheless, we should be aware of it. Harris, Blitzer, Textor, and Parish hold the reigns of all three companies.

You stopped investigating too soon as that's not the end of it. Palace Midco Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Palace Holdco Ltd but that's where it all starts to get a bit murky as Holdco's ownership is vested in Delaware, a state that allows shareholders to be hidden

 

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 23 Mar 23 8.22pm Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

Originally posted by Midlands Eagle

You stopped investigating too soon...

No doubt. Sadly, earning a living got in the way. It happens now and then. One thing is clear: Parish is (and some time has been) having a laugh at the club's expense.

Tin hat on.

Edited by sydtheeagle (23 Mar 2023 8.22pm)

 


Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

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View sydtheeagle's Profile sydtheeagle Flag England 25 Mar 23 7.59pm Send a Private Message to sydtheeagle Add sydtheeagle as a friend

Originally posted by Hrolf The Ganger

You do understand that under fair play rules, we can't just spend unlimited money.

The club is trying to increase its revenue in order to compete with mid table clubs.

Financial fair play rules for the Premier League state that a club cannot spend in excess of 70% of its total revenue on wages, transfers, and agents fees. Our total revenues are presently around £150 million annually, so we can spend £105M under the cap on that basis.

Our total player salaries last season were around £67M. Therefore, we can spend roughly £40M cash per season (not including loans) on transfer fees.

This is actual spend; the money you pay in the financial year rather than the total fee. Bear in mind that the way transfers work, you usually put down around half the money when you buy a player, and pay the rest in installments over time. With that in mind, we could spend around £80M on players in any given year without threatening the cap. Put another way, we don't spend anything close to that.

It's wrong to say what you have - that only by increasing our revenues can we become more competitive. In fact, we could become more competitive first (by building a stronger team) and then seeing revenues increase as a result. I'm not saying that's the best way to do it, but it is possible. Either way, the cap is not an issue for CPFC. If we are not competitive with mid-table clubs, it's because our board doesn't invest and thereby chooses not to be.

 


Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

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