American Eagle Foundation to represent Palace at PL Mornings fan festival
This Saturday, at a special Premier League and NBC Sports fan event in Nashville, Tennessee, Crystal Palace Football Club and its supporters will once again be connected to an American bald eagle.
The club is actively involved in the promotion of the special Stateside event this weekend, and with Palace's game against Manchester City on Saturday taking prime billing, it is with great pleasure that we have partnered with the American Eagle Foundation on welcoming new eagles to the club for this special event to delight our American-based supporters.
Having previously supported Palace across the USA at previous NBC PL Mornings events in Orlando, and during last summer's pre-season tour, the Foundation will be supporting Palace again at the famous Broadway, Nashville.
A 34-year old eagle named ‘Challenger’, who is regarded as the most famous of its kind in America – alongside his understudy eagle, ‘Mr Lincoln’ – will be representing the club.
Hundreds of Palace fans from a number of our supporters clubs will attend the event, with several thousands of American-based football fans also watching all of the weekend’s games live on the big screens at the iconic location, with live coverage from NBC Sports.
Supporters attending the event will be able to have their picture taken alongside Challenger, Mr Lincoln and his handlers, whilst learning more about the bird of prey and the Foundation who cares for him.
There will also be a number of Palace-themed giveaways available for fans to enjoy!
Challenger was born in 1989 and was found in Louisiana having been blown from his nest during a storm. He was rescued and cared for by some well-meaning local residents, but unfortunately, he experienced too much human contact at a very young age and became highly ‘human socialized.’
Despite attempting to release Challenger into the wild on a number of occasions that year, it was determined that he could not survive and hunt on his own in the wild. At that point, he was placed in the care of the American Eagle Foundation, where he has remained ever since.
With a commitment to conservation and educational outreach, the American Eagle Foundation is dedicated to inspiring the global community to guard and protect the Bald Eagle and all birds of prey, and is currently finalising the build of the the largest sanctuary in the States.
Challenger went on to became the first bald eagle in U.S. history trained to free-fly into major sports stadiums and flew at hundreds of events between 1995-2017.
Some of his biggest appearances include flights at five MLB World Series, NFL Pro Bowls, walking out with Palace during pre-season and even White House appearances and Presidential inaugurations. Challenger’s image is even on a Tennessee specialty license plate and on specialty coins issued by the U.S. Mint, such is his status.
Joining Challenger is 27-year-old Bald Eagle Mr Lincoln. Named after the former President, Mr Lincoln has performed in stadiums across the USA as a backup to Challenger; Saturday will mark his first-ever meet-and-greet event.
The club is delighted to continue its relationship with Challenger and the American Eagle Foundation, and we look forward to seeing our fans interact with him on Saturday live on NBC and Peacock.
Palace's match against City will kick off on Saturday, April 6th at 06:30 CT local time (12:30 BST).