The Crystal Palace Vice-Chairman, Dominic Jordan, has been instrumental in the set-up and continued development of the Crystal Palace USA professional and academy outfits.

Following the announcement that the Palace first team will be travelling to Baltimore for a one week tour to play both Crystal Palace USA and the Harrisburg City Islanders this summer, he talks to us about the reason for the tour and the long term benefits this initiative has for Crystal Palace Football Club.

Firstly, why USA?

The reason for USA is to support our growing relationship with the academy and the professional set up out there. Also the facilities are first class, the opposition provide - at that stage of the pre-season campaign - a good test and it enables the team to bond together at an early stage. We were due to go out there last year, but with it being Neil's first pre-season he wanted to do it nearer home and somewhere he was used to. This year though we agreed early that we will be going out to the States and we have been working hard to ensure that it fits from all levels.

How important is this summer tour to promote the Crystal Palace UK brand after not going out there last season?

It is very important. The professional team has done very well. They narrowly missed out on the Play Offs last year and did very well in their equivalent of our FA Cup where they beat a couple of MLS sides.

But the real reason we decided to become involved is to extend our academy set-up and going out there on tour allows us to see this first hand, share ideas and good practices and bring the two organizations closer together.

Plus, by taking the first team out there it also makes us more tangible to the audience there. The Americans themselves can see the parent companies, players and coaches in action and their academy boys can then see there is something real to aspire to.

So is the aim of bringing Palace UK brand closer to the Palace USA set-up the pivotal objective?

It is important to us to bring the club to America to grow our brand because we want the next generation of American players who can play in England to play for Palace.

You have seen in the recent times in both the Premier League and the Championship players come through to play at the highest level; we want them to come through and play for Palace.

However this was never going to be a quick turn around. We see this as a long term project and, to make this really work, the two groups need to work together and keep in contact as much as possible to ensure that connection remains strong. Neil and the team's presence out there will really help and go a long way to strengthen this.

So that is the main reason Palace are out there - to produce talented future stars for Palace rather than for any commercial benefits?

That is how we see it. It is very much that we are looking for the next American star to be found and nurtured by CPFC USA and to then advance on to play for Crystal Palace Football Club. On the back of that, if we can promote the brand of Crystal Palace then of course I am going to do it, it would be naïve to think we aren't going to and it has opened up doors in that way, but the primary reason is to extend our recruitment philosophy to an international audience.

How much of a challenge has it been promoting a Championship name in the US especially considering the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United's recent attempts to break into the American market?

From what I can see the main reason for the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United to get involved over in America is to promote their global merchandise opportunity.

That is not our priority here or our primary cause; our primary cause is to hopefully uncover some raw talent that can come into our already successful academy and then hopefully into our first team. That is what we want. We want to be at the forefront of those opportunities.

We believe that America breeds winners and fine athletes and we want to tap into that early in their development, influence that by affecting positively the experiences these potential players are having and reap the rewards down the line.

I think by being one of the first clubs to put some real tangible roots down in America, not just maximize a retail opportunity but actually embed ourselves over there in an area on the East Coast, which is well known for producing good players, is the right way to go about it and we are doing it in a way that hopefully will provide additional opportunities for our Manager in the future.

So that is what we set out to achieve and I think we are on the cusp of going to the next level. We have had some players come over, albeit they have not yet managed to break into the first team, but they have come over. We have also sent the likes of Charlie [Sheringham] and Lewwis [Spence] over to America and they had some great life experiences as well as footballing experiences.

Is there a concern about the quality of US football and, because of that, the potential of the players already in the professional set-up? And so, is it a case of focussing on very young talent and employing the same philosophy of our UK Academy to breed the necessary quality from a very early age?

I don't agree that the level of football out there isn't at a decent competitive standard. It doesn't have the recognition, it doesn't have the sponsorship, the branding, or the prominence because of other sports such as NFL, basketball and baseball. It isn't their number one sport whereas it is our national game. But you can see by the World rankings that America can play.

And I believe at grass roots level amongst the age groups of 7-14 it is one of the fastest growing sports being played. So our ideals to bring in players from those grass roots levels and mirror what we are doing over here with our academy, should be a perfect fit.

What are the benefits of having the match broadcast live across the US on Fox Sports?

It makes it even more exciting and tangible in terms of promoting the relationship, because that is going to really bring it into people's front rooms over in the States and get them to relate to the club.

From your experience travelling out to the US to work with the Palace USA set up, have you noticed a strengthening of the Palace brand in the US?

Very much so. We go out there when there is need to, such as to show support when the team is playing in important games or when there is development within the academy more importantly. And the more we go out there the more we can see the recognition of Crystal Palace and what we are trying to achieve.

And finally, with the Palace USA fan base ever-growing they will undoubtedly be looking forward to seeing the Palace UK first team, so what will Palace bring to the USA fans?

Because we are geographically a substantial distance away, by bringing the first team and coaches over enables the USA fans to see the UK team in the flesh and strengthens the partnership by interacting both with the USA players and Academy, which in turn helps these players see that there is a very definite opportunity of really progressing.

But also for the fans to actually see us properly involved by touring in their homeland should hopefully provide the endorsement of the relationship. I am sure there will be a lot of promotion around that - they are very good at marketing - and last time we were over there in 2006 we did lots of radio shows and lots of communications and interaction and we intend to do a lot more of that to strengthen further the relationship.

Crystal Palace travel out to the US on the 11th July with their first game on Monday 13th July against Crystal Palace USA. They will then face the Harrisburg City Islanders on Thursday 16th July before returning home.

For ticket details for both games click on the links:

Crystal Palace USA vs Crystal Palace