Moshiri to Friedkin: Inside Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium deal
Proud Everton fans very nearly walked into a brand new arena called the MoneySuperMarket Stadium. Alas, the Toffees now call the Hill Dickinson Stadium home.
The international commercial law firm’s roots are entrenched on the banks of the River Mersey, but the search for a title sponsor for the Premier League’s newest stadium was a six-year struggle.
Al Guido, chief executive of – the agency which brokered the deal – happens to think the Everton agreement is one of his firm’s best.
Champions League deal
He tells Morning Wire that “it’s in the Champions League of our deals”, citing that “it’s a new building in the Premier League, which doesn’t happen often”.
“And I would say that we found a partner that is endemic to the club and the region and that’s hard to do at times, given the footprint of the Premier League in the UK and the companies that are associated in some of these cities or regions.”
When Guido and Elevate first got going on finding a naming sponsor for Everton, the Toffees were owned by British-Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri. Since then, however, the Merseyside club agreed a deal with the Miami-based 777 Partners before that spectacularly collapsed.
But last June the owners of Roma, the Friedkin Group, entered into an exclusivity agreement with Moshiri before agreeing a sale in September.
Smooth Everton ride?
A year on and Guido states that it wasn’t always a smooth ride but commends the new ownership for engaging with what supporters would want from their club.
“I think we and the club navigated the ownership change very well. I understand the PR around it was always difficult, but I do think that that transition has gone over smoothly,” Guido, who is also president of NFL team the San Francisco 49ers, adds.
“New owners always have their perspective on what they want. I give Dan [Friedkin] and Rishi [Majithia], and all the people that are associated with the Friedkin Group a lot of credit, because I think they came in with a pause and then a quick, ‘these brands make sense, these brands fit’.
“They met with the brand themselves to hear why they were interested and what the brand wanted to do with the rights and marks of Everton and vice versa.
“We represented David Rubenstein, who’s the head of Carlyle Group, when he purchased the Baltimore Orioles and Camden Yards, which in North America is a historic venue. And he had a really specific approach around how he felt Camden Yards needed to come off.
“And my general sense is that if I was an Evertonian and a fan of this team, I would feel very comfortable knowing that the Friedkins [like Rubenstein at the Orioles] understand just how important it is to Evertonians to have an ownership that cares so deeply about the supporters.”
Jeans in the genes
Guido likens his work in pairing Hill Dickinson with Everton to pairing the 49ers with Levi’s, due to their Californian roots and related geographical story.
But more widely there’s a recognition that the Premier League is an entirely different entity to the NFL and other US sporting staples.
“You can’t implement a strategy that works in North America, bring it to the Premier League and have it work there,” Guido says. “It’s just not the way the world works. They view hospitality differently, they view partnerships differently.”
He adds that changes to gambling sponsorship regulation – whereby clubs are voluntarily introducing a front-of-shirt ban on the sector from next season – need to be noted in how the landscape might shift, while the necessity of remaining within football’s profit and sustainability rules could change how stadium deals work entirely.
Everton ambition
“Everton has been, historically, a top club and they aspire to be in the mix to play in the greatest tournaments in the world, and to do that you need the revenue associated to be able to then put that back onto the pitch,” Guido concludes. “And so I think that there’s a proper way to do that while still feeling like everything doesn’t have a sign on it everywhere.
“[Fans want] The Masters, Wimbledon Championships, the US Open – when supporters walk into Hill Dickinson Stadium, they will find it’s sport, but at the same time [the sponsor is helping] us put a winning programme on the pitch.”
Everton’s new home has thus far seen positive returns – two wins from two – but the Toffees will hope their new branding can propel their early good fortune for years and decades to come.