Parish: US-centric Palace targeting American support

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish says the south London club are targeting the American market as they look to widen their worldwide appeal.

Palace, who recently received a £50million investment from American billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer to help develop Selhurst Park, are the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary currently airing in the US.

It is part of an attempt by the Premier League club to attract new fans on the other side of the Atlantic.

“The Premier League is one of the fastest growing properties on US television right now, and it’s also virgin territory in that it didn’t have a strong footprint in the Premier League before,” Parish told World Soccer Talk.

“Obviously what we find when we go into a lot of territories around the world is that the Premier League already has a huge amount of traction. And unfortunately maybe gained that traction during a time when we weren’t participating. People have picked the teams they’re following and the teams that they support.

“The US represents a particular area of interest for us. Not only because of that, but also because we have quite a US centric brand. I’ve always said that if somebody from America bought a football club and wanted to rename it, they might call it something like Crystal Palace.

“Red and blue. An eagle as its mascot emblem. There’s a resonation of the brand with people in the US. We’re certainly garnering lots of support from the US.

“Your global support does drive many things. The commercial sponsors are interested in that. We’re interested in it in terms of widening the appeal of the club. So there’s a lot of factors that make the US an interesting target for us.

“And one where we’re happy to go into the documentary because there would be some good wins for us if it’s successful.”

Parish also confirmed the club are “looking” at arranging a pre-season tour of the US, “if not this year, then next year”.