Kieran Maguire: FSG well placed to complete £17m-a-year Liverpool deal – but fans will hate it
There is “nothing stopping” Liverpool from sealing a £17million-a-year Anfield naming rights deal – but supporters would be up in arms.
So says finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the revenue potential at Liverpool’s Merseyside home.
The Athletic reported on Wednesday (19 February) that analysis shows that Liverpool could earn just under £17m per year from a naming rights deal.
Anfield has been Liverpool’s home ground since the club’s formation in 1892 and has undergone a dramatic makeover in recent years.
The Main Stand redevelopment was completed in 2016 and lifted capacity by 8,500, while an Anfield Road project is set to add another 7,000 seats.
But Maguire insists that fans’ sentimentality means it would be nigh on impossible to rebrand the expanded stadium.
“There’s nothing stopping FSG from doing this,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“There is always a marketing consultant who will pitch for these sorts of deals. But getting them over the line is much more of a challenge.
“Will the name be used by anyone other than the club itself? As someone who works in Liverpool, I can assure you that it is Anfield.
“To the fans, it will never be the Nike Anfield or the Mastercard Anfield, it’s just Anfield and will be forevermore.
“Broadcasters probably wouldn’t call it anything other than Anfield either, unless they are financially incentivised to do otherwise.”
Liverpool trousered £71m in matchday income for the Covid-hit 2020-21 campaign, the last financial recorded financial year.
That figure was supplemented by an increase in commercial revenue to £217m.
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