Partnering with Elevate Ventures was a wise choice, according to one industry expert
Everton’s move to a new home on the banks of the River Mersey will see them open up a myriad of revenue streams that previously weren’t available.
Selling the naming rights to somewhere as iconic and engrained into the fabric of the football club as Goodison Park was never an option, just like it hasn’t been for other clubs bound by tradition to their stadiums.
But for Everton, what is currently known as Everton Stadium will likely have a different moniker by the time the club moves into its new 52,888-seater abode in time for the 2025/26 season.
On Thursday, the Toffees’ chief commercial officer, Richard Kenyon, updated fans via the club’s official website on a number of commercial issues, including the stadium naming rights partner, with Kenyon describing “good progress” having been made in the search.
In an effort to secure a partner for the stadium, Everton enlisted the US company Elevate Ventures in 2022. Elevate had previously succeeded in securing sponsorship for San Jose stadiums, the Earthquakes MLS franchise, and the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL team.
The stadium naming rights market in the US and the UK differs. In the US, the value of this marketing inventory is significantly higher due to increased brand visibility and a lack of competition. The trend has been large businesses that are based in the same state as the team whose stadiums they sponsor.
Head of commercial strategy at international sports agency Octagon, Daniel Haddad, thinks Everton made a wise choice in working with Elevate, selling the rights to a multipurpose venue open to the public for 365 days a year, as opposed to merely being a football stadium that hosts 19 league games and the occasional domestic cup match.
“That is a highly specialised field, and clubs may utilise traditional sponsorship sales agencies in that capacity,” Haddad added.
For example, CAA works with Chelsea, Two Circles has a partnership with Arsenal, while SportFive advises a number of clubs. It’s hardly a foreign idea to football teams.
“It’s normal for clubs of a certain size to have sponsorship sales agencies, and actually within that those firms I’m talking about are not specialists in stadium naming rights or stadium deals, they tend to focus very much on traditional assets or just traditional partnerships.
“In the US there are businesses that are very specialised in the area of stadium naming rights. and and I say it goes, yes, stadium naming rights. They will have more knowledge institutionally of how to package a stadium naming rights partner because it’s a completely different asset mix.
“They have a lot more best practices in actually how to create a rights package that is best in class and fit for purpose.
“Firms like Elevate will have a lot more institutional knowledge within the US.
“When Shahid Khan (Fulham owner) was looking at buying Wembley Stadium, one of the reasons he wanted to buy it was because he thought it was massively under-commercialised based on his experience of operating a stadium in Jacksonville with the Jaguars.
“They had all sorts of crazy stuff in the Jacksonville Stadium, and they had something like 25 brand partners.
“Shahid Khan was basically saying, why in the UK is a stadium completely under-commercialised, not even just from a naming rights partner perspective, but other ways of integrating?
“I think if you were looking for an external resource to help you monetise a stadium, you probably wouldn’t go to one of the big European agencies or more established football agencies. You would go to Elevate or Legends, one of those that actually specialise in that area.
“Even though Everton hasn’t secured a name right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve actually added a lot of value, and that they are doing a good job on the other bits and pieces.”
The temptation to look across the pond at what has been accomplished and use it as some sort of benchmark is strong, especially considering the massive deals of $600 million and $700 million over 20 years that have been negotiated in Los Angeles for the SoFi Stadium and Crypto.com Arena over the previous four years.
However, Haddad clarifies that there won’t be parity when it comes to the pricing of naming rights for European football stadiums because of significant variances between the markets.
“I think one of the big mistakes that a lot of European clubs or sports entities make is actually trying to draw a comparison on the value of a stadium naming rights deal in the US and trying to translate that into what that could mean in Europe,” Haddad stated. “It’s a completely different mark in the US.”
“Basically, the main distinction is that, in the US, sports teams are not required to disclose or have other prominent points of entry when it comes to the traditional methods of selling their assets.
“With the disparities in the sponsorship industry between this country and the US, it is not feasible for English clubs to attempt to achieve the same revenue levels as US teams.”
See more updates on https://sportupdates.co.uk/
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