Everton set for significant finance boost

Everton expect the value of their next shirt sponsorship deal to increase by 300% compared to their current agreement.

The Blues’ three-year-deal with Chang is worth around £16m but expires at the end of the 2016-17 campaign. There was no mention of who the new primary sponsor will be, though Kenyan betting firm SportPesa have been linked recently.

Everton chief executive Robert Elstone, speaking at the club’s AGM earlier this evening, expects a significant uplift with the next deal, boosted by the news that secondary sponsors will also be permitted on shirt sleeves next season.

Elstone revealed revenue projections for 2016/17 season are expected to exceed £170m, a £50m increase on last season. He also confirmed Everton had secured £75m of new commercial revenue in the last six weeks.

Some of that funding is likely to come from a significant new title sponsor partnership that has been agreed for the Finch Farm training ground and Academy. This would be the first time the club would have actually made money off naming rights to the training facilities.

In a further boost for the supporters, Everton announced that season ticket prices would be frozen for the 2017-18 campaign.

After close consultation with supporters groups Everton also announced a raft of other initiatives to help current and new season ticket holders.

These included:

• A maximum price of £565, equating to £30 per game
• A new 12-month payment plan
• A new reduced price category for fans aged 22 to 25
• Early bird pricing to become standard pricing

Elstone says the new pricing structure highlight’s Everton’s desire to listen to supporters’ needs and making a positive impact in the community:

“We feel confident that our current pricing structure represents great value for money and holds up well when compared to our rivals. Most importantly, it makes football at Goodison affordable for young fans.

All of us at Everton see ourselves as custodians and, in that capacity, it is incumbent on us to endeavour to hand on a healthy and sustainable club to the next custodians.

“We estimate one in four of our fans who attended the Southampton game were under 22 years, compared to a Premier League average of one in six. And nine out of 10 of those under the age of 22, who were season ticket holders, renewed.

“We were also delighted to take the lead on fairer pricing for away fans, quite simply because it was the right thing to do.

“The outcome of this affordable pricing strategy is a significant drop in what we generate from each seat for each game and it’s a key element of a clear strategy of ‘being a Club’ – being good at listening, sharing and responding to what we hear; working with supporters’ clubs and the fans’ forum, working hard with social media and, of course, being great in the community.”