Dan Meis, the architect of Everton’s new stadium, once memorably declared, “we’re not building a Bentley, we’re building a Ferrari,” when describing the Blues’ future home. But will the club’s move to the Mersey waterfront drive them into football’s financial fast lane?
Everton posted their annual accounts for 2021/22 on Friday and while the headline figure was the overall loss of £44.7m (down on the £121m deficit of the previous year, in which matches were mostly played behind closed doors), there were interesting numbers in terms of matchday revenue both in terms of both the Blues and their rivals.
After a relatively nominal figure of just £200,000 from 2020/21 when Goodison Park was empty due to coronavirus restrictions, apart from four matches when three restricted attendances of 2,000 and then one of 6,068 watched the final home game of the season, Everton’s gate receipts rose to £15.6m in the latest accounts. However, this is still dwarfed what several other clubs are bringing in, with particular interest to their next opponents Tottenham Hotspur, who travel to face Sean Dyche’s side on Monday night.
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The 2021/22 accounts were Spurs’ first to include a full season at their new stadium and their matchday income was £106m, which accounted for almost a quarter of their total revenue of £444m, and some £90.4m bigger than Everton's, whose gate receipts equate to just over eight-and-a-half percent of their £181.1m turnover.
Granted, while in a stunning riverside location that Andy Burnham predicts will make it “the most iconic ground in England,” the Blues' new 52,888-capacity stadium is not going to be a cash cow as large as Tottenham’s, which as well as having almost 10,000 extra seats, is able to charge steeper London prices than Merseyside for its clientele – some of their corporate packages require a minimal outlay of £120,000 over a three-year period – but you can appreciate why Everton’s chief commercial officer Richard Kenyon describes it as “a game-changer in terms of how the club is viewed globally,” adding that “we’re already seeing the benefit of this in commercial conversations we’re having and deals we’ve done.”
For all the scrutiny that Everton receive over the commercial side of the club, officials believe they’re moving in the right direction in this regard. If the figures for sponsorship, advertising and merchandising from 2019/20 are discounted because a total of £63.7m included a one-off £30m naming rights option for the new stadium with USM, the last two years (2020/21 was £47m) represent the club’s highest two revenues to date, despite the impact of coming out of the pandemic and its associated growing financial constraints across the world.
Over a 10-year period, Everton’s total commercial revenue from sponsorship, advertising and merchandising has grown from £10.9m in 2011/12 to £50.4m in 2021/22. This equates to an annual compound growth of 16% p.a.
Only when the Blues relocate from Goodison Park, though, will the numbers really start to shoot up. Everton’s latest accounts are the first since they started construction on the site at Bramley-Moore Dock, with new stadium costs leaping from £20.3m in 2020/21 to £207m, and this significant investment provided the lion’s share of the net debt increase from £58.2m to £141.7m, with player trading outlays minimal in the shape of a nominal summer fee for Demarai Gray and most of the January spending on full-back pair Vitalii Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson being covered by the sale of Lucas Digne.
Despite Everton’s greater historic pedigree, the increase revenue streams and status created by their new stadium has helped Tottenham to move further ahead of the Blues both on and off the pitch in recent years, so the chance for them to try and close the gap can’t come soon enough.
Following an article published by the Daily Mail last Monday, stating that Everton’s profit and sustainability charge “could delay the completion of their new stadium with potential funding partners reluctant to commit until the matter has been resolved,” club officials told the ECHO that they believe there are no issues with funders in any shape or form, with the project remaining on schedule.
A further clue was contained in the club accounts released on Friday. While a note of caution was evident, Everton remain confident that funding is coming for the new stadium - suggesting talks are at an "advanced" stage with "heads of terms" agreed. A statement in the accounts read: “The Club is also in advanced negotiations to secure the next stage of funding for the Bramley-Moore Dock development for the new stadium. Heads of terms have been agreed in this regard and we expect to have concluded in the next couple of months. However, these are not legally binding as at the date of approval of the financial statements and thus also cannot be guaranteed.”
The point about the project remaining on schedule was also stressed on the record – by both the club and contractors Laing O’Rourke – when the Guardian approached them over another piece claiming the project is months behind schedule that was published on Friday, just hours before the accounts came out.
The ECHO understands that the analysis was obtained by pulling out an image from a planning document submitted in 2020 before the club got planning permission in February 2021. This particular document was indicative, not the actual work schedule that was devised after the club received planning permission and were on site.
While part of the hypothesis that the project is potentially behind schedule from the two unnamed experts is the notion there should be more steel on the east stand, other elements are seemingly overlooked, such as greater progress in the south stand than on the image used and more terracing on the stadium. Certainly from this correspondent’s vantage point, the progress made on the stadium so far looks impressive, but crucially, of course, the team need to ensure they also stay on track and remain in the Premier League when they do make their move.
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