U.S. owners buy in to new era for Premier League finances
* U.S. businessmen own six English Premier League clubs
 * New Fulham owner Khan attracted by TV deals, fan base
 * Relegation risk means clubs come cheaper than NFL teams
By Keith Weir
 LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Illinois car parts baron Shahid Khan will find plenty of familiar faces and accents when he visits English soccer stadiums this year after spending an estimated $300 million to buy London team Fulham.
With Khan’s arrival U.S. sports franchise owners now control six of the 20 clubs in the world’s richest soccer league, reflecting an explosion in interest in the game in the United States and a growing trend among owners to seek global networks.
Investors like the Glazer family at Manchester United, Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke and Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry at Liverpool have been drawn by the Premier League‘s ability to generate vast sums of TV cash and support from fans all over the world.
“The Premier League obviously has a huge global audience,” says the moustachioed Khan, who was born in Pakistan and already owns Florida’s Jacksonville Jaguars in American football.
“It’s got a great media deal, it’s got great leadership at the top and most importantly a very, very passionate fan base and it’s an excellent business platform,” he told Reuters.
As a new season kicks off this weekend, television deals at home and abroad have allowed the English top flight to put the dark hooligan days of the 1980s behind it.
The league’s 20 clubs will share annual TV revenues of around 1.7 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) thanks to new broadcast deals starting this month.
 Underlining the growing interest in the United States, NBC has bought the rights there for the next three years, paying an estimated $250 million to unseat Fox. There are now an estimated 24 million Americans playing soccer compared to 100,000 in 1967.
 “Soccer is on the rise big time,” Khan said, commenting on the game’s growing U.S. profile. “I thinkFulham can get its fair share of fans and we want to help them do that, playing friendlies in Jacksonville next year,” he added.
 To try to build his NFL team’s international profile, Khan is bringing the Jaguars to London’s Wembley Stadium to play a game in each of the next four seasons. Read more
