Sports Evolve
The business prospects at Bramley-Moore Dock for Everton have been fully explained and praised as “tremendous.”
In July 2021, the Blues started enabling work on their state-of-the-art new home on the city’s waterfront, and they’ve made amazing progress.
In what has been an exciting run of developments, spectators have been able to view the first concrete foundations and elements of the superstructure for the 52,888-seater stadium being constructed on the site in recent weeks.
Everton are still on track to move into their new stadium for the 2024/25 season, and the move is expected to bring a slew of new commercial opportunities with it.
The Blues’ Director of Communications, Revenue, and International Growth, Richard Kenyon, has revealed what fans may look forward to at the new stadium.
Not only will matchday revenue be impacted, but the decision also has non-matchday implications that might be game-changing for the club.
He said: “I think the opportunities at the new stadium are tremendous, it’s a game changer for the club commercially.
“Stating the obvious, there’s going to be more seats, so there’s bigger general admission capacity for us to benefit from. We obviously also have a much greater premium offering and much greater choice within that as well, which I think is really, really important.
“So the matchday income will rise and, again, we will still have that commitment to affordable pricing at the new stadium but, just by the nature of the increase in seats that we’ll have and the increase in the variety of the premium offer, we’ll benefit from increased revenues there certainly.
“We will also have new partnership assets that we can sell – the naming rights obviously being one of them – but many other partnership opportunities as well alongside it.
“Then there’s the non-matchday income that we can benefit from, which we don’t really do too much at Goodison, partly because of the location and other constraints around the stadium but, being based on the waterfront in a city as vibrant as Liverpool, with its growing visitor economy, we’ll be able to benefit from other non-matchday revenue as well, so increasing stadium tours, events, potential for concerts, and all that kind of thing will help us grow commercially.”
Kenyon also thinks the move will help to change the negative perceptions about Everton that exist in some quarters.
While Goodison Park is a historic venue, Bramley-Moore Dock will be a cutting-edge venue with a vibrant atmosphere.
And he feels Everton’s brand will evolve in tandem with their new environments.
“So the new stadium is fantastic in terms of all of those revenue lines but, also, it will do a lot, I think, to give us a different perception as a football club,” Kenyon added.
“The brand around Everton Football Club will change. It’s so much influenced by the stadium that we play in, and Goodison is a very much-loved stadium. It’s an old, traditional stadium that has a really important place in football.
“But those words like authentic and old and traditional will suddenly change into modern and dynamic, and things like that.
“So, in terms of the positioning for Everton Football Club, that’s going to be a tremendous opportunity for us and we’re already starting to see that now.
“The biggest benefits will be when the stadium actually opens its doors but, in that lead up to it, we’re already seeing a lot more interest in Everton and the partnership opportunities, the commercial opportunities that the new stadium presents.”
