£200m Bramley Moore Dock stadium naming rights update as Everton partners strike major deal
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It will probably take some time before Bramley Moore Dock feels like Everton’s spiritual home, but the new stadium will be hugely more lucrative at a time when the club badly needs it.
Dan Friedkin’s imminent takeover of Everton will resolve their immediate cash flow issues and arrest the nagging anxieties over the club’s complex debt situation.
Friedkin is in talks with JP Morgan with a view to restructuring and simplifying the various loans and credit facilities that the previous regime led by Farhad Moshiri took on.
Much of that debt was taken on the cover the construction of the new stadium on Bramley Moore Dock. Looking back in years to come, that will be Moshiri’s legacy at Everton.
In the short term, however, the British-Iranian billionaire has left them with a Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) hole to fill, with the club having already been sanctioned and docked points for two breaches.
A third PSR hearing awaits Everton regarding their capitalisation of interest payments on loans for the Bramley Moore project, which could – in theory – lead to more sporting sanctions.
And with Everton having lost £89m in the last recorded financial year and, according to football finance expert Swiss Ramble, projected to have lost around £61m in 2023-24, the problems aren’t over just yet.
Sean Dyche’s side won 4-0 last time out against Wolves but are still flirting with the bottom three, and relegation would be cataclysmic for the club.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 10 |  FulhamFulham | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 23 |
| 11 |  TottenhamTottenham | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 31 | 19 | 12 | 20 |
| 12 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 20 |
| 13 |  Man UtdManchester United | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 19 |
| 14 |  West HamWest Ham | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 28 | -8 | 18 |
| 15 |  EvertonEverton | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 21 | -7 | 14 |
| 16 |  LeicesterLeicester | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 30 | -9 | 14 |
| 17 |  Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace | 15 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 13 |
| 18 |  IpswichIpswich | 15 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 27 | -13 | 9 |
| 19 |  WolvesWolves | 15 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 23 | 38 | -15 | 9 |
| 20 |  SouthamptonSouthampton | 15 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 31 | -20 | 5 |
However, the move to the new stadium will, if managed correctly, be the Toffees’ salvation.
Goodison Park’s value to supporters is worth far more than its financial utility alone and it will be the most emotional of goodbyes at the end of the season, of course.
But as a business asset, it is one of the worst revenue generating stadiums in the Premier League, with the club earning less than £1m per matchday at the 39,572-capacity ground.
It isn’t just ticketing revenue where the difference will be made – commercial income is huge too.
Naming rights is a big potential earner, and there have been fresh developments on that front this week.
- READ MORE: Everton backers have ‘exit clause’ as Dan Friedkin in talks with JP Morgan over £660m deal
Everton naming rights agency gets fresh investment
As TBR Football has previously reported, Everton are working with the Elevate sports agency to find an appropriate naming rights partner for Bramley Moore Dock.
The value of the stadium to sponsors has been widely debated, but Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire has told this site that Everton’s naming rights could be worth £20m per year.
With CEO Colin Chong having said that the club are looking for a minimum 10-year deal, that would be £200m worth of guaranteed revenue for Everton.
Incidentally, Chong has revealed that the club’s commercial department have fielded several offers for the rights to have their brand associated wit the new arena.
And Elevate may now have more resources to throw at securing top dollar for a naming rights deal after they announced fresh investment from hospitality titans Levy.
In a situation emblematic of how small the world of football business is, other Elevate shareholders include Arctos (investors in Liverpool owners FSG), 49er Enterprises (owners of Leeds United), and Harris-Blitzer (co-owners of Crystal Palace).
How much will Everton earn at Bramley Moore Dock?
With Everton ready to receive the keys to Bramley Moore Dock, just how lucrative will the new stadium be?
By capacity, it will be the seventh largest stadium in the Premier League, behind Old Trafford, the Emirates Stadium, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Anfield, the London Stadium and the Etihad Stadium.
A crude pro-rata calculation based on their current matchday income and the capacity of Goodison Park would suggest that Everton’s matchday takings will increase from £17m to £23m.
However, that does not take into account ticket price rises and the increased hospitality focus, as well as other commercial elements of the stadium.
In reality, matchday income will probably be closet to £50m, making them the biggest earners outside the so-called Big Six.
And that is before a naming rights deal is taken into account, not to mention less quantifiable benefits but equally valuable benefits such as increased leverage with sponsors.
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