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Everton seek stadium naming rights deal

Everton’s new owner The Friedkin Group will begin the task of boosting commercial growth by looking to secure a lucrative naming rights deal for the club’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock.

The 52,888 all-seater arena is to open at the start of next season and is seen as being transformative in supercharging Everton’s spending power after profitability and sustainability breaches.

Everton estimate revenue will increase by £40million a year after the move from Goodison Park with supporters encouraged to use the new venue, which will boast numerous bars and restaurants, for all their match-going experiences.

US custodians, The Friedkin Group [TFG], want to bolster that further by sealing a naming rights deal with a blue chip company.

The original plan for Bramley-Moore was a £200 million agreement with USM, a company linked to the previous owner, Farhad Moshiri, and his ex-business partner Alisher Usmanov. However, those plans collapsed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Securing similar terms may prove difficult given Tottenham Hotspur has still to strike an agreement at the level it has been seeking for its stadium which opened in April 2019.

It was reported in 2022 that Google was in talks with the club and that the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, was seeking a record-breaking £25 million-a-year deal. Discussions petered out without an accord.

Everton are believed to have some options on the table which are not linked to companies under TFG’s broad business umbrella. TFG will also consider maximising the earning potential of areas inside the stadium as is the case with US stadiums.

Meanwhile, a number of test events are likely to begin at Bramley-Moore as early as February with a women’s or under-21s game set to have the honour of being the first to be played in the new ground. A set number of supporters will be present.

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