Major Everton Stadium naming rights hint as big-name firm agrees £80m deal after Bramley-Moore Dock talks
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Goodison Park took its name from an 1800s civil engineer who designed the area's sewage system. Everton’s new stadium could be named after an airline, a tech giant, or a multinational finance firm.
The engineer in question, George Goodison, would hardly be able to comprehend the industry that football has become as Everton prepare to move into their new home at Bramley Moore Dock.
The Toffees are likely to extract £10-20m annually from a naming rights deal which chief commercial officer Richard Kenyon says will last at least a decade.
If the final figure is at the upper end of that range, Everton will earn as much from their naming rights in a single season as they ever have done from ticket sales over the same period.
With American multi-industry billionaire Dan Friedkin installed as the club’s new owner, Everton fans who have witnessed the club tread water financially in recent years can be forgiven for daring to dream again.
They are not out of the lion’s den in terms of the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) just yet, however.
True, the Premier League confirmed in announcement yesterday that Everton have not been charged with a PSR breach for 2023-24. Not clubs have been, in fact.
However, they have also refused to issue an update on an independent commission’s hearing on Everton’s capitalisation of interest payments on debt taken out to fund the new stadium.
Essentially, the club argue that, because infrastructure spending is exempt from PSR, the interest on loans taken out to fund the stadium should be excluded from the PSR calculation too.
The Premier League have a different semantic interpretation of their own rules, which experts agree have been proven poorly drafted, as evidenced by ongoing lawfare behind the scenes.
If interest is backdated and applied to Everton’s PSR calculations in recent seasons, they could theoretically be issued with further sporting sanctions.
It may well be that the issue has been resolved in the club’s favour but as long as the Premier League decline to clarity the situation, there will be some lurking anxiety for Everton fans.
Either way, the Toffees are in an infinitely better situation than they were in the death throes of Farhad Moshiri’s premiership.
Their debt situation is far more manageable and the cost control measures implemented by mean that, the interest issue aside, they will have more flexibility to spend next season.
And with David Moyes set to take charge of Everton for the 519th time – and the first in his second stint as manager – in tonight’s match against Aston Villa, a new era is beginning with a familiar face in charge.
Survival at all costs is Moyes’ brief for the remainder of the season. Hopefully, their Premier League status will be confirmed before their last ever game at Goodison Park on 18 May.
From 2025-26, they will be in situ at the new ground at Bramley Moore Dock.
But what will the arena – which The Friedkin Group are referring to simply as the Everton Stadium in the absence of a naming rights deal be called?
Everton naming rights: One company seemingly out of the running
The search for a naming rights deal has been ongoing for several years, with the Elevate Sports agency appointed to oversee the tender process.
Perhaps because they are holding off until the announcement will have maximum impact or because the Friedkins haven’t given their blessing to a pre-agreed deal, there have been no updates for a while.
One specific name during the Moshiri era that was linked with a deal was Qatar Airways.
Moshiri is said to have met with representatives from the airline during the World Cup in the Gulf nation in 2022, although how advanced or otherwise those talks are is not known.
Gulf state-sponsored airlines are betting big on the naming rights market and football in general. Atletico Madrid’s record-breaking naming rights deal with Riyadh Air is case in point.
However, the latest news suggests that Qatar specifically may have been shunted to the back of the queue by one of their rivals in the region.
Per the Guardian, Qatar Airways’ new £80m title sponsorship with rugby union’s Nations Championship is a tactic admission that Saudi Arabia will dominate the football market for the next decade.
If true, that would suggest there is only a slim possibility that the airline are among those in contention for the Bramley Moore Dock deal.
Who else is in the running for Bramley Moore Dock sponsorship deal?
At present, Everton are keeping their cards close to their chest.
But there have been whispers in the football finance industry about the possible identity of the naming rights partner, although nothing concrete.
J.P. Morgan & Chase’s debt refinancing deal with Everton prompted some commentators to question whether they might lend their name to the stadium.
The financial services firm have a history of naming rights deals and several active contracts in the sector.
The same can be said of Toyota, who are perhaps the favourites to land the naming rights deal as it stands because of Friedkin’s close links to the automotive giants.
DHL are another name often linked with deals in this space, while tech giants like Google and Amazon have been linked with other naming rights deals in the Premier League too.
In truth, the deal has probably already been inked but everyone involve will likely have NDAs in place to prevent news leaking before the official announcement.
With the first test event scheduled for 17 February, that announcement may only be weeks away.
