New owner Dan Friedkin is monumentally wealthy but restoring pride and competitiveness at Everton will take as much commercial know-how and strategizing as it will cold, hard cash.
The move to Bramley Moore Dock in time for the 2025-26 season will be – and it’s a word Everton fans have heard endless of late – transformative financially, yes.
But for at least another season, there will have to be quite some restraint as far as the Premier League’s dreaded Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are concerned.
Now former owner Farhad Moshiri has said he expects the new stadium to generate £43.7m in matchday income alone, but that figure will be offset somewhat by the interest payments on the construction costs.
Dan Friedkin has, of course, renegotiated that debt via a syndicated loan organised by JPMorgan, which will reduce the strain on Everton significantly on a season-by-season basis.
But the legacy of the Moshiri era will cast a long shadow for some time yet, and it will take some TLC before commercial revenue is where is required for them to compete where they want on the pitch.
We don’t have the full accounts for 2023-24 yet, though the Deloitte Football Money League suggests that the Toffees’ revenue will have climbed to £187m by the time they publish in the coming weeks.
For context, Spurs have tripled their matchday and commercial income since their last match at White Hart Lane.
Can Everton do the same? If new CEO Angus Kinnear can help deliver that, it would give David Moyes an extraordinary platform on which to build.
£25m-a-year naming rights and shirt sponsor deal on the cards? Football finance expert gives his view
Everton have been explicit about their search for a naming rights partner for Bramley Moore Dock, though specific details have been thin on the ground.
Qatar Airways once held talks with the club, but that was in the Moshiri era. JPMorgan have been tentatively linked. Again, however, that is far from confirmed.
This week, it emerged that Everton are holding out for less than £20m per year, potentially learning from the mistake Tottenham have made at their new, unbranded stadium.
CREDIT: Adam Williams / GRV Media
Chief commercial officer Richard Kenyon has said the club is looking for at least a 10-year deal, so it is likely the final agreement will be worth at least £200m all told.
Elevate Sports, the agency appointed to man the search for a partner, have stressed that Everton are positioning the stadium as a community asset, which could have an impact.
TBR Football meanwhile has reported that AJ Bell has also held talks with Everton, though the status of those negotiations is not known. AJ Bell is owned by Andy Bell, an Everton fan and a lender to the club.
Photo by James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images
Significantly, Everton’s front-of-shirt rights are available too following the news that Stake will not have their UK gambling license renewed, forcing them to exit the market.
Front-of-shirt partners are often tied in with naming rights (Arsenal-Emirates, Man City-Etihad etc), so could the same be on the cards at Everton.
If so, could the Toffees hope to match the £20-25m-a-year shirt deals struck by Aston Villa and Newcastle in recent seasons?
“I think the reaction in Liverpool has been overwhelmingly positive to the new stadium, even from the old romantic,” says Liverpool University football finance lecturer and industry insider Kieran Maguire.
“However, you have to deliver on the pitch before you’re getting figures in the region of £20-25m.
| Position | Team | Played MP |
Won W |
Drawn D |
Lost L |
For GF |
Against GA |
Diff GD |
Points Pts |
 |
28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 36 | 33 | 3 | 39 | |
| 13 |  |
29 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 37 | 40 | -3 | 37 |
| 14 |  |
29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 55 | 43 | 12 | 34 |
| 15 |  |
29 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 32 | 36 | -4 | 34 |
| 16 |  |
29 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 33 | 49 | -16 | 34 |
| 17 |  |
29 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 40 | 58 | -18 | 26 |
“There is going to be a gap as far as the sponsors who have been willing to do front-of-shirt deals in the crypto and gambling industries.
“That has always been a reverse auction in those sectors. I’ve been told that some of those firms approach a club and ask them how much they want for front-of-shirt rights and then undersell them by saying Club X will do if for less – they try to low-ball them.
“The sponsors don’t care. For a certain period of time, Everton was seen as similar to Palace, Bournemouth, Wolves, and the rest of the clubs who were willing to go down that route.
“Now, the new stadium allows itself to set itself apart and perhaps reconfigure itself as a challenger club. To me, the challenger clubs are Aston Villa, Newcastle and, to a certain extent Nottingham Forest.
“Those clubs’ owners are willing to push the boat out and invest in the playing budget. If that is the case, you have to get the deals done in the right order – a sponsor isn’t going to pay you £20m if you finish 14th.
“We have seen both Aston Villa and Newcastle qualify for the Champions League. If Everton off the back of the new stadium can get into the top eight, it becomes a far more attractive proposition.
“They have got that longevity as far as their position in the top tier is concerned. It is in the city of Liverpool itself that has a historic cache that a town like Brighton, Bournemouth or Wolverhampton doesn’t.”
Bramley Moore Dock’s impact on PSR after 19-1 Premier League vote to keep rules
Infrastructure costs – such as the expense for building Bramley Moore Dock – are exempt from PSR during the construction phase, but once the stadium is operational, they count towards the calculation.
That is particularly significant given that Premier League clubs have voted 19-1 to retain PSR in its current form for at least another season, as opposed to moving to a revenue-based model where those expenses wouldn’t have been material.
“I think for 2025-26, they will probably be slightly disappointed that PSR is being maintained,” says Maguire, assessing how the Toffees will have responded to the decision to keep the system.
“Why? Because you have two years of Goodison Park revenues included in your calculation as opposed to Bramley Moore Dock. That is going to act as an anchor.
“That will be the frustrating thing from Everton’s perspective.
“Is that interest going to be particularly high? All of it will have been capitalised until next season upon the completion of the stadium.
“They have got that benefit going into two years’ worth of calculations. Yes, the interest will go into 2025-26, but hopefully that will be far more than offset by the additional revenues.
“They will generate more money from matchday and the ability to multi-function the stadium.”
