It has been just over 100 days since Dan Friedkin took over Everton, whose new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock is one of a handful of reasons the Californian billionaire is going all in on his new club.
With 52,850 seats, the Bramley Moore Dock stadium is only a 30 per cent capacity increase on Goodison Park. However, as a money-spinning asset, it is expected to generate outsized returns.
Most football finance experts consulted by TBR Football expect that Everton will, at the very least, double their matchday income at the new ground. Ex-owner Farhad Moshiri has echoed that forecast.
Credit: Adam Williams / TBR Football / GRV Media
Released on Monday, Everton’s accounts for 2023-24 showed matchday income of £19m, with overall revenue rising to £187m, up from £172m the previous season.
In recent years, with constant swirling anxieties about Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), debt and legal issues, accounts day has been dreaded in L4.
However, the Dan Friedkin takeover has soothed those nerves. And in any case, the figures from 2023-24, before The Friedkin Group arrived on Merseyside, already paint a healthier picture overall.
Perhaps the most significant action the Hollywood financier-turned-sports-investor has taken since he posted up at Everton has been to refinance the club’s debt.
Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of high-interest debt with a contingent of various lenders – of whom Friedkin was once one – has been bundled into a new syndicated loan organised by JPMorgan.
That has extended the repayment and significantly reduced Everton’s interest burden, giving far more comfort as far as PSR and cash flow is concerned. Some estimate the Toffees are saving £25m annually.
And with Bramley Moore Dock, which has now staged two test events, expected to improve much more than just gate receipts, servicing the debt will be much, much more manageable in years to come.
Commercial income too is expected to soar. Even without a stadium naming rights deal as yet, Bramley Moore Dock has yielded a number of new sponsorships and commercial opportunities.
Increasingly, football club owners are looking to real estate – that’s bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, as opposed to merchandise or digital experiences – to make their business plans viable.
Everton’s new owner is on this train. At Friedkin’s other club, AS Roma, he is orchestrating the construction of a new 55,000-seat stadium with an adjoined retail and entertainment complex.
Incidentally, Dan Meis, the man who designed the Bramley Moore Dock stadium, has been enlisted to oversee that project.
And the latest news from Everton HQ suggests that, even with Bramley Moore Dock having barely been completed, he is looking to expand his footprint on the Liverpool waterfront.
Dan Friedkin explores deal for more Bramley Moore Dock land
Recently, Everton’s interim CEO Colin Chong – who will be replaced by Leeds United’s Angus Kinnear in the summer – revealed the club’s desire to buy more land adjacent to the stadium site.
“There was always an idea that we might be able to develop a complementary development to support the stadium’s development,” he told MIPM in March.
“Our new ownership has tasked me with looking for a sports-led redevelopment that could be accommodated on Nelson Dock, and maybe even further if we can get the right partners to invest.
Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
“We are currently going through a fact-finding mission, carrying out surveys, and hopefully we will have some information back in the next month or two.
“Our owners are very keen to secure Nelson Dock because they believe they’ll do something good with it regardless – that’s their mindset, which is a breath of fresh air.
“If I was given a wish list, that would be on the top of it, secure Nelson Dock and protect the asset that we’ve just developed.”
Speaking exclusively to TBR Football, University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire explained what a commercial, residential or mixed redevelopment on the £5bn Liverpool waterfront might look like.
“He is saying all the right things. Since the Friedkin takeover, there has certainly been a lot of action.
“Friedkin has done his due diligence in order to get a greater understanding of the history and heritage of both Liverpool the city and Everton as a fantastic ambassador for that city.
“Could it be that this land grab is part of his grand vision for the club? I’m not sure. He is looking at all options to see which one makes the most sense and where you get the biggest bank for your buck.
“It’s increasingly expensive to live in the city centre. Property prices in that part of Merseyside aren’t high. If you’re going to try and gentrify that part of the city, you can see the benefits from Friedkin’s perspective.
“But even so, it’s an unusual way to go about things. You could do the same in the United States, where you have far greater local knowledge. You can benefit from your knowledge of the market there.”
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How extra Bramley Moore Dock revenue will impact Everton’s PSR status
If Everton are making more money from a sports-led complex next to Bramley Moore Dock, it could also be good news for PSR.
However, how the Premier League and UEFA categorise ‘football revenue’ and therefore what income is relevant for PSR becoming increasingly blurred,
“Where this stands in terms of PSR, which comes back again and again, is important,” explains Maguire.
“Would these residential incomes form part of your overall revenue for squad cost control purposes? That would allow Everton to become more of a challenger club.
“However, there are some very blurred lines here.”
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How much Everton will earn for pre-season Premier League Summer Series
Friedkin is an all-American sports investor, whose money is primarily parked in media in Hollywood and cars in Texas.
In the last few weeks, it was reliably reported that he had bid for one of the United States’ biggest sporting institutions, the NBA franchise Boston Celtics.
He was unsuccessful there, but it has recently emerged that the Friedkin Group are also interested in buying another quintessentially American sports investment, an NHL expansion franchise in Houston.
He is well versed in the United States’ financial ecosystem and wants to leverage that knowledge for the benefit of Everton too.
Everton have stayed relatively local for pre-season in the last two summers, with their last trip outside Europen coming with a tour of the US in 2022.
But they will return to America this summer for the Premier League Summer Series, an officially-endorsed pre-season tournament which will also feature Man United, West Ham and Bournemouth.
It is believed Everton could collect up to around £4m for appearing in the Summer Series, though the tournament has not been without controversy.
It was first held in 2023 but skipped a year last summer because of logistical issues, as well as complaints about the Premier League effectively financing some clubs but not others while PSR is tight.
One suggested solution was to give non-competing clubs a PSR credit which, although it was not cash, would effectively behave as such when it came to their end-of-season PSR calculation.
It is not confirmed whether that approach will be adopted this summer, but it will benefit Everton’s PSR quota regardless.
