Everton are seeking a naming rights partner for their new stadium on the banks of the River Mersey
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FEBRUARY 17: In this aerial view fans watch the first ever game at Bramley Moore Dock, the new home of Everton Football Club on February 17, 2025 in Liverpool, England
An aerial view of Everton's new stadium(Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Everton will take residence in their new stadium from the start of next season. But quite what it will be called remains something of an unknown.
The 52,888-seater development on the banks of the River Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock had a build cost of some £750million and has long been known as simply Everton Stadium, something that could still be the case by the time the 2025/26 season kicks off.
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Barring a set of results the likes of which have never been seen in the Premier League before, Everton will be playing their football in England’s top flight again next season, something that is impactful financially for a club heading into a new stadium that will open up significant new revenue streams.
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One of the major pieces of sponsorship inventory that the club has available to sell is stadium naming rights, with the Toffees having engaged US firm Elevate Sports Ventures back in 2022 to work alongside the commercial team in scoping out the opportunities in the market.
The club aren’t close to announcing anything with regards to stadium sponsorship, but they are now in a position to move ahead with more certainty now that Premier League survival is all but assured.
For a club that has had to battle with its fair share of financial issues over the past three years or so, making sure the price point is right for such a valuable asset, and also ensuring that they get the length of deal they seek, believed to be around the 10-year mark, is crucial to help them build a firmer financial footing under new owners, The Friedkin Group.
“The most important thing is that the club gets this right,” said Daniel Haddad, head of commercial strategy at global sports and entertainment agency Octagon, speaking to the ECHO.
“The biggest equity in the naming rights comes at this stage.
“The ownership situation that had rumbled on had made it hard to get a deal over the last six, nine, 12 months. The confidence of potential partners would have been affected by what had been going on, and the bigger problem was probably off the pitch than on it in terms of what the value would have been. That has been sorted now, and leadership changes are being made.
“In an ideal world, Everton would have a partner in place for August. If you look at the stadium naming rights situation at Spurs then the issue has always been the price point and what they want to get against what the market is prepared to pay. Everton aren’t holding out for £20million per year, so they will have options.
“There has been some stadium naming rights movement recently. Twickenham was renamed the Allianz Stadium Twickenham, which shows it’s not impossible to get blue chip brands involved, and there will be plenty of positive sentiment for Everton in the market now that they are coming out the other side of their troubles. There aren’t many venues of Everton’s spec that are coming in the UK.”
While the club have had Elevate as part of the team, a firm that helped secure valuable stadium naming rights in the US for various teams, there isn’t likely to be the same value placed on the rights for Everton Stadium.
Over the past three years Elevate have delivered stadium naming rights success in the US, landing a 10-year deal for the San Jose Earthquakes MLS side for their home to be known as PayPal Park, while the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL team landed a new stadium naming rights deal over 15 years with financial technology firm Acrisure. The latter deal was valued at $20million per year (£15.5million).
“It’s not as easy as just comparing the UK and US markets when it comes to stadium naming rights,” said Haddad.
“Every state in the US has 20 to 30 multi-national firms based there, and those major companies don’t have the same access points to sport, that is why the value of US deals is so high, and they tend to be done with companies based in the state the team plays.
“It’s unlikely that you would get a brand engaging in a naming rights deal for less than seven years. You are looking at eight years plus for a deal as it allows for brand building and recognition. That seems to tie in with what The Friedkin Group are looking for in terms of deal length. They’ll likely have plenty of options.”