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Sources: Everton close in on £150m deal after in-person talks at Bramley-Moore Dock
Everton hosted in-person talks with several potential naming rights partners at Bramley-Moore Dock in November, sources have told Football Insider.
The Toffees want to boost the earning potential of the 52,888-seater stadium and have enlisted United States-based agency Elevate Sports Ventures to conduct the search for possible sponsors
Richard Busby – an industry insider and CEO of BDS Sponsorship, one of Europe’s leading commercialisation agencies – told this site in October that Everton could squeeze as much as £150million from a 10-year naming rights deal.
A sponsorship broker has now told Football Insider that the club’s commercial department is close to sewing up a deal after giving interested parties a tour of the construction site last month.
The identities of the companies are not known but it is believed that a tech firm is the leading candidate to take the branding rights.
That tallies with recent comments from Everton CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale who wrote in an open letter to supporters last Friday (23 December) that two new partners relating to the stadium would soon be announced.
It is not clear whether, as has been suggested, one of the partners will provide funding for the remainder of the stadium project in exchange for a stake in the club.
Owner Farhad Moshiri has footed the majority of the construction costs but is seeking external investment to see the waterfront venue through to completion.
Football Insider also saw documents in November that show Everton plan to host four major non-football events per year at Bramley-Moore Dock, opening up another major revenue stream.
In other news, expert claims Everton need to fix one “big problem” to unlock Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s “phenomenal” best.