The race for promotion to the Premier League has a US flavor and there’s $180M riding on it

Two more American-owned clubs are headed for the Premier League in what is shaping up to be a tension-filled finale to the second-tier Championship.

The question is: Which two?

The top three of Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield United are separated by two points with five rounds remaining.

Two of them will be making a quick return to the lucrative Premier League, ensuring an estimated revenue uplift of around $180 million in projected matchday, broadcast and commercial revenue — and much more if they were to survive the first season back in the top flight.

One of them will drop into the four-team playoffs and all of the end-of-season uncertainty that brings.

For Burnley and Sheffield United, promotion would mean just a one-season stay in the Championship, while Leeds is in its second season back at that level.

So all three teams are among a cluster of clubs — throw in Norwich, West Bromwich Albion and Southampton, too — which are regularly in the frame to yo-yo between the top two divisions.

Whoever does get promoted will join a growing band of Premier League clubs under U.S. ownership.

It already contains Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool and Manchester United. Ipswich is also on that list but is headed for relegation.

Here’s a closer look at Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield United, and their run-ins:

Parse.ly - related stories

Denis Bouanga and Sergi Palencia each score a goal, LAFC beats Earthquakes 2-1

 

Diego Fagúndez, short-handed Galaxy play Dynamo to 1-1 draw, extended winless streak to 8 games

 

Darren Yapi, Rafael Navarro score in second half to lead Rapids to 3-2 victory over San Diego

 

Leeds (1st; 85 point

s)

A three-time English champion, Leeds is historically the biggest of the three teams and has the most renowned owners: The San Francisco-based 49ers Enterprises group whose shareholders include American golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Acquiring a minority stake last May was Red Bull, the energy drink company whose other soccer interests include owning Leipzig in Germany.

Leeds is getting a reputation for being an end-of-season choker — last campaign, it fell out of the promotion spots after winning two of its last eight regular-season games, then lost the playoff final to Southampton — and the same might be happening again.

The team managed by Daniel Farke is stumbling, winning just two of its last seven games to get reeled back in by Sheffield United and Burnley.

Leeds will not want to drop into the playoffs again because it has failed to win promotion via that route in its six previous attempts.

Leeds hosts Preston on Saturday.

Burnley (2nd; 85 points)

Majority-owned since 2020 by the ALK Capita investment group fronted by U.S. businessman Alan Pace, Burnley also has former NFL star J.J. Watt as a notable shareholder.

This historic club — founded in 1882 — was managed by Vincent Kompany in its most recent season in the Premier League. He left to join Bayern Munich after relegation and Burnley’s latest coach is Scott Parker, the former England midfielder who has instilled a record-breaking robustness in the team.

The Clarets didn’t concede a goal in 12 consecutive matches in the league from Dec. 26-Feb. 21, a record for the second tier. In its 41 league games in total, they have racked up 29 clean sheets.

The key game in the run-in is set to be at home to Sheffield United on April 21.

Burnley’s next game is at home to Norwich on Friday.

Sheffield United (3rd; 83 points)

The Blades started the season on -2 points after being punished for defaulting on payments to other clubs during its last promotion season in the Championship, in 2022-23.

Given they sit two points adrift of the top two, that sanction might prove pivotal — though they were leading the Championship as recently as a week ago, only to lose to Oxford and Millwall in their last two outings.

United is newly under American ownership, with the COH Sports consortium led by Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy completing a takeover in December to end the five-year tenure of Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, from Saudi Arabia.

The team visits last-placed Plymouth on Saturday.

Playoff chasers

Sunderland, most recently in the Premier League in 2016-17 and the subject of a Netflix series documenting its struggles, is seven points behind Sheffield United in fourth place and guaranteed a playoff place.

The other two teams occupying the playoff positions are Bristol City and Coventry, with Middlesbrough two points further back in seventh.

___

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer