Alex Editorial 3: John Textor and the Story of How Multi-Team Ownership Can Go So Horribly Wrong
When a multi-team sports owner runs out of money on one team, have you ever wondered why they don’t just give the money to the other? While this practice is illegal in almost every sports league I can think of, one billionaire owner has actually tried to execute this boneheaded tactic over the past year. Meet John Textor, the owner of Eagle Football Holdings, the controlling shareholder of the soccer teams Olympique Lyon in France, Botafogo in Brazil, RWDM Brussels in Belgium, and Crystal Palace in England.
A pioneer in virtual reality and visual effects, John Textor started his career by founding startups which broke through in both the music and film industries. Textor’s most famous company was Fubotv, the direct-to-consumer sports streaming platform, where he was the Executive Chairman. In 2020, Textor stepped down from Fubo, where he would start focusing on soccer ownership.
In August of 2021, Textor acquired a 40% stake in Crystal Palace, joining Steve Parish, as well as 76ers, Commanders, and Devils owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer in owning the London team. In late 2021 and early 2022, Textor then acquired shares in RWD Molenbeek and then Botafogo. Then in late 2022, the ownership group bought Olympique Lyon, and the ownership group rebranded to Eagle Football Holdings, a name referencing Crystal Palace’s nickname (and maybe the division rivals of Harris’ Commanders).
While every one of Eagle Football’s four teams started an underdog, each team has had a remarkable level of success. RWD Molenbeek got promoted to the Jupiler Pro League in 2023 (sidenote: they also were renamed to RWDM Brussels earlier this year). Botafogo qualified for the Copa Libertadores, South America’s premier club competition, in 2024, going on to win the whole thing as well as the Brazilian top division. Lyon made it to the French Cup final for the first time in 12 years and made European competition in each of the past two years. Finally, Crystal Palace pulled off an upset win vs. Man City in the FA Cup Final in 2025, qualifying for Europe as well.
Notice that in the last paragraph I highlighted that both Crystal Palace and Lyon had qualified for Europe. Fortunately for Eagle Football (and in many ways unfortunately), it had been announced that Lyon were not due to compete in the Europa League as they had been relegated from the first tier of French soccer. Last November, France’s economic watchdog National Control and Management Directorate (DNCG) had ruled that Lyon had too much debt and gave them a provisional relegation and a transfer ban. Despite the sale of their women’s team to Michele Kang, sale of the LDLC Arena, and continued sales of their best players, factors like funding the new Groupama Stadium, the pandemic, and not enough early success made Lyon’s debt balloon to a point where it was unsustainable.
In June of this past year, Lyon were officially relegated to Ligue 2, despite having gotten their debt back to $205 million from the $593 million that it was at before. Lyon had sold key players like Rayan Cherki and released some older players, but it proved to be too little too late as the French governing body’s decision seemed final. The final shot from Textor was to take legal action against the DNCG, and it actually worked as Lyon were able to stay in Ligue 1. In the span of a few weeks, Textor resigned from his position at Lyon, sold his shares in Crystal Palace to Jets owner Woody Johnson and things in France seemed fine. That was until UEFA had to figure out what to do Lyon and Crystal Palace both scheduled to play in the same division.
In July, after Lyon were allowed to stay in Ligue 1, UEFA ruled that Lyon could stay in the Europa League, Europe’s second tier, and Crystal Palace would play in the Europa Conference League, Europe’s third tier. Lyon’s preference over Crystal Palace was most likely down to the fact that Lyon qualified through league performance rather than winning a cup like Crystal Palace did.
Crystal Palace fans will probably feel pretty angry about not being able to be in the Europa League given that last year, Lyon would have instead qualified for the Conference League had their qualification rivals Strasbourg not lost on the final day. Strasbourg’s loss came against relegation-threatened Le Havre on a 99th minute penalty as Lyon eventually went to the Europa League on goal difference (watch the video of the penalty kick below).
So the case seemed over. John Textor had sold his shares in Crystal Palace, stepped down in some sense from Lyon and the two teams would have to understand that both couldn’t compete in the same league under the same ownership. But it was not that simple. Botafogo, the team in Brazil, alleged that Textor had used the money from selling their stars like Luiz Henrique to Zenit and Igor Jesus and Jair to Nottingham Forest to help Lyon stay afloat in the DNCG controversy. The sales added up to $65 million, which might not have made a huge dent in the debt recovery, but is a huge amount of revenue for a team in Brazil.
Textor’s vision was to fully integrate the teams in Eagle Football Group by sharing funds in order to push to a shared success. When Botafogo wanted to win the Copa Libertadores, Textor probably gave some of Lyon’s money across the Atlantic to Brazil. And when the French side needed bailing out to stay in the league, he most likely sent money the other way. The only problem is that this business model isn’t sustainable.
There are some notable similarities to the way in which Eagle Football operates: the City Football Group and Red Bull. However, the business models of both the City Football Group (who own Manchester City, Girona, Melbourne CIty and New York City FC); and Red Bull (who own RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Bragantino and others) both have more consistent revenue streams. In the case of the City Group, they have the oil money from their Emirati investors and for Red Bull, their energy drink brand has somehow always kept their sports empire afloat. For Textor and his associates, there are times when he can’t always inject the cash in, and when revenue sharing can go too far.
So what have we learned about sports owners? For one, if there’s an ownership group owning multiple teams, they should be supported by a sustainable business model. Or, they should at least not be in a position to play one another. Multi-team ownership has proven to work, but should only be trusted after a couple of years with each team (see Fenway Sports Group for an example). For Crystal Palace fans, Lyon fans, Botafogo fans, and RWDM fans they should hope their teams play well this season on the field, because off the field, things look pretty shaky.
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