Everton owners Dan Friedkin superimposed over the club badgePhoto by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Photo by Visionhaus
Everton on course to make £217m announcement as Dan Friedkin unveils ‘jewel in the crown’
T-minus 10 days until Everton Football Club is changed forever, moving to a shiny new waterfront home at Bramley Moore Dock designed to extract as much noise – and cash -from fans as possible.
The cement has dried, the turf has been laid, the last glitzy corporate hospitality suite polished. And on 17th February, 10,000 supporters will see Everton’s under-18s christen the 52,888-seater stadium.
That reduced capacity for Bramley Moore Dock’s first test event (opposition TBC), means we won’t get to see how much the new stadium cranks up the decibels compared to Goodison Park.
A general aerial view of Everton Stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock on October 21, 2024 in Liverpool, England.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
In reality, however, Everton’s decision to construct a new stadium was initiated by now former owner Farhad Moshiri to increase the club’s revenue, not the number of bedrock fans they could seat.
That is partly why the club have leaned towards a relatively modest capacity increase of around 12,000, with an emphasis on quality, not quantity.
Infographic sowing the matchday incomes plus stadium capacities and planned upgrades in the Premier League, featuring Newcastle United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton
“There were several factors that drove the decision, some economic and some practical,” the stadium’s chief architect, Dan Meis, wrote in response to one critic on X late last year.
“It simply isn’t true that a larger capacity would guarantee more revenue in the long run.”
Dan Friedkin, whose takeover via the Friedkin Group in December value the club at around £600m, wouldn’t have paid nearly that much if they didn’t have faith in the stadium’s financial yield.
The average matchday income for a Premier League club in the last financial year was £43m, although that figure is heavily swayed by the so-called Big Six.
Chart showing the annual matchday income of Man United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, West Ham, Man City and Newcastle United
Only six clubs generated less money through the turnstiles than Everton, whose takings totalled £17.2m.
It goes without saying that Goodison Park’s value to Evertonians goes well beyond its economic utility, but in the clinical world of football finance, it doesn’t cut the mustard.
Chart showing Everton’s revenue over time and the breakdown between commercial, matchday and media income
A pro-rata calculation based on Everton’s current matchday income suggests that Bramley Moore Dock would generate just shy of £23m, which still wouldn’t see them crack the top half of the matchday table.
Team Annual matchday income
Man Utd £136m
Spurs £118m
Arsenal £103m
Liverpool £80m
Chelsea £76m
Man City £72m
West Ham £41m
Newcastle £38m
Leeds £30m
Brighton £25m
Aston Villa £19m
Leicester £18m
Southampton £17m
Everton £17m
Fulham £15m
Wolves £15m
Palace £12m
Nott’m Forest £11m
Brentford £11m
Bournemouth £5m
SOURCE: Official club accounts 2022-23 (last financial year on record)
However, because of the commercial focus of modern stadium design, the true figure will be much, much higher.
How high exactly? TBR Football spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance Kieran Maguire to find out.
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The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a money-printing machine and, according to Maguire, is the example that the Toffees must follow to get maximum benefit from Bramley Moore Dock.
Stadium Cost (adjusted for inflation) Location Opened
SoFi Stadium $5.5 billion California, USA 2020
MetLife Stadium $1.99 billion New Jersey, USA 2010
Allegiant Stadium $1.90 billion Nevada, USA 2020
Wembley Stadium $1.85 billion London, UK 2007
Yankee Stadium $1.79 billion New York, USA 2009
AT&T Stadium $1.79 billion Texas, USA 2009
Mercedes-Benz Stadium $1.56 billion Atlanta, USA 2017
Singapore National Stadium $1.41 billion Kallang, Singapore 2014
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium $1.33 billion London, England 2019
Optus Stadium $1.17 billion Perth, Australia 2017
SOURCE: Structural Repairs
“Everton realistically should be looking to double matchday income and more,” said Price of Football author and industry insider Maguire.
The Everton club crest on their first team home shirt on May 14, 2020 in Manchester, England.
Photo by Visionhaus
“It’s £18m at the moment. Goodison Park is not geared towards hospitality. It’s a quaint, memorable piece of architecture but it’s not a revenue maximiser.
A general view outside Goodison Park ahead of the Premier League match between Everton FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Goodison Park on Decemb…
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
“Everton know their target market. You have got Man United at £130m, Spurs getting close to that, Arsenal are creeping up there too.
“Everton at £17m means they can’t have a seat at the table. The move to Bramley Moore Dock isn’t going to add a zero to where they are, but I would expect a 100 to 150 per cent increase as far as revenues are concerned from ticketing.
“Then you have the matchday, non-ticket income. You only have to look at what Spurs offer. They estimate that people are spending an extra 50 minutes at the stadium per home match, which is 50 minutes of spending opportunity. That’s what Everton have got to do.
“If Bramley Moore Dock is going to be the jewel in the crown of the development area, you have got to try and monetise it on the 20 or so days per year that it is being used at the moment.
“We have seen Spurs announce another four nights of Beyonce this summer. Can Everton do something like that? Probably not to the same degree because Spurs have the benefit of being in London, but there are certainly opportunities.
Infographic explaining the value of naming rights in football, for stadiums, training grounds and more
“Anfield isn’t used for a huge number of events because the groundsman is concerned about the state of the pitch every time a non-football event is taking place because it’s the turf they’ve worked on for the last 11 months.”
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How the Bramley Moore Dock stadium debt will affect Everton’s PSR situation
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) remain a millstone for Everton despite the club winning its case about the capitalisation of interest on loans taken out to fund Bramley Moore Dock.
But after construction is finished, interest on the loans – which Friedkin is currently in the process of refinancing with JPMorgan – does count towards PSR.
Infographic explaining the PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules, formerly known as FFP) for Premier League, Championship and UEFA clubs
And with the stadium costing hundreds of millions to build, the burden will be significant. However, Maguire argues that
“As far as the debt eating into the revenue, we don’t know what proportion of the debt is coming from The Friedkin Group,” he said .
“But the borrowing was initially organised by Moshiri. Some of that has been converted into equity itself. It looks as though Friedkin has taken on some of the existing loans and that burden.
“In terms of external interest costs, they will be relatively modest. There should be a significant net improvement moving to the new stadium from a PSR perspective. I would imagine £20-30m.
An extra £20-30m in revenue would, based on figures recently published by Deloitte taken from Everton’s provisional 2023-24 accounts, see them announce revenues of £217m after a season at their new home.
“Stadium debt is expensed on PSR after construction is finished.
“What you are effectively saying is that, because Everton had commissioned the stadium to be built by an independent construction company, that construction company would have borrowed from the bank and incurred interest costs, which it would have included in the ultimate price that they give to Everton.
Dan Friedkin attends the Telluride Film Festival 2019 attend on September 1st, 2019 in Telluride, Colorado.
Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
“So, if Everton borrow the money, it should be treated in the same manner. That is the justification for capitalisation of interest as far as PSR is concerned.
“Once the stadium is generating revenue, the interest should be shown as an offset against those revenues.”
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English Premier League
Everton
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