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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