Everton’s new state-of-the-art Hill Dickinson Stadium has been selected as a venue to host some Euro 2028 matches.
Everton are planning to expand the Hill Dickinson’s capacity from 52,000 to around 57,000 ahead of the tournament.
In England, Everton will be hosting alongside Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Newcastle United. Wembley Stadium will also be a venue.
With that said, Everton News has decided to get the lowdown from finance expert Adam Williams about how hosting games will benefit the club.
Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar Via Getty Images
Everton set for ‘significant’ impact by hosting Euro 2028 matches
Speaking exclusively to Everton News, Williams explained that the Toffees will have to rename the Hill Dickinson Stadium to meet UEFA’s regulations, although they will gain ‘significant’ brand exposure as a result.
“One condition that UEFA has is that they only have ‘clean’, unbranded stadiums in European competition,” the finance expert revealed. “That means that the Hill Dickinson will probably just be called ‘Everton Stadium’ or something along those lines for Euro 2028.
“However, the Hill Dickinson brand will still get some exposure by proxy for hosting matches, and that will have been factored into the naming rights deal, even if only as a minor negotiating point. Simultaneously, if it is the ‘Everton Stadium’, then Everton themselves will get some brand exposure from that.
“That’s pretty significant. The reason that Spurs have been in no hurry to get a naming rights deal for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is partly because of the benefits of having the club name above the door when big sports events or concerts are in town. Everton will get some of that if this is how it plays out at Euro 2028.”
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Everton will only get a small rental fee for being a Euro 2028 venue
Whilst Everton’s brand is going to benefit, Williams did note that from a financial perspective, the club will only receive a small rental fee, so it’s not going to move the needle much on that front.
“Staging matches at the 1966 World Cup was a big part of the club’s heritage for Goodison, with Pele playing there, the semi-finals there and so on. It was part of the history of that stadium. It’s a different prospect hosting matches at Euro 2028, but there will hopefully still be some brand benefits*.*
“I believe that they get a modest rental fee from UEFA for the use of the stadium and the hospitality facilities and so on, but it won’t be much. And UEFA have their own commercial partnerships to sell beer and food in the stadium and so forth, so I don’t think there will be a financial benefit there either. Everton outsource catering anyway. UEFA retain the gate receipts.
“So this is going to be all about developing the brand. That’s not to be sniffed at. The fact that Aston Villa and Man City, for example, have aligned the timelines for their stadium expansion projects with Euro 2028 tells you that clubs value this exposure. Everton are at year zero commercially after the move to Bramley Moore Dock – they’re redeveloping their ‘brand’ and so far have been successful in getting blue-chip sponsors on board. Hosting matches at this tournament is part of that patchwork approach.”
Everton’s new stadium could generate an extra £40m-a-year in revenue, so the Friedkin Group have certainly optimised the club’s earnings from it anyway.
As well as Euros games, the 52,000-seater is also set to be a venue for the Rugby League Ashes series, starting this week.
Concerts will also be held there, so there’s lots of exciting opportunities on the horizon for the Toffees at the Hill Dickinson.