The 52,888-seater stadium on the banks of the River Mersey will transform both the skyline of the city of Liverpool and Everton’s finances.

For a club that have grappled with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), the explosion in matchday income the new stadium is set to spark will be a blessed relief.

But the Toffees’ battle with PSR’s enforcers isn’t over yet.

At an unspecified date, Everton will face another hearing relating to their capitalisation of interest payments on loans used to fund the construction of the Bramley Moore Dock stadium.

If the tribunal disagrees with the club’s interpretation of those interest payments as being exempt from their PSR calculation, more points deductions could follow.

In fact, given that the interest payments issues affects multiples seasons and therefore multiple PSR assessment windows, it could be that the Everton are hit with more than one sporting sanction.

The mood music within the world of football finance is that would be enormously unfair given that infrastructure investment is and always has been PSR-deductible.

The question is, as Price of Football author and industry insider Kieran Maguire has put it to TBR Football, why should Everton be penalised for investing in their future?

But, as Everton have discovered to their cost, the Premier League is not into interested in discussing the semantic interpretation of the rules.

Instead, with an independent regulator for English football set to be introduced soon, it wants to prove to the government that it can effectively self-regulate.

In any case, the imminent takeover of Dan Friekdin will not put an immediate end to Everton’s PSR troubles.

One route the club have been exploring for some time to soothe their financial burns is the possibility of a naming rights for Bramley Moore Dock.

Everton hope to earn over £100m from a naming rights deal that CEO Colin Chong says will be in place for at least 10 years – and potentially much longer.

Now, in an interesting detail suggests that a group with an ownership link to Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) could – in theory, at least – have some influence over the would-be branding deal.

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FSG investors have stake in Everton naming rights agency

FSG are one of the most valuable sports empires in the world, with full ownership of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins as well as Liverpool.

They also have a portfolio of smaller franchises and minority positions in a variety of sports and entertainment businesses.

John Henry remains the network’s single largest individual shareholder, but the corporate structure encompasses dozens of investors in total.

One of those is Arctos, the sports-specific private equity firm that bought an unspecified minority stake – believed to be around five per cent – in 2020.

One of Arctos’s businesses is the branding agency Elevate, who just so happen to be the firm that Everton appointed to search for a naming rights partner several years ago.

Elevate’s ownership group also includes 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers, who own Leeds United.

Elevate have also helped Everton appoint a number of ‘founding partners’ for Bramley Moore Dock, including Castore, Christopher Ward, and Aramark

And while there is no suggestion that Arctos have had any direct sway on proceedings, their indirect involvement is emblematic of how small the world of sports business can be.

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Liverpool and Everton set to compete for lucrative stadium events

While Everton hope to close the enormous gap with their rivals across the city on the pitch, they will also be looking to eke up the commercial ground too.

Liverpool’s annual commercial income of £272m at the last count has been bolstered since the staggered redevelopment of Anfield.

That has allowed them to turn what was historically a football-only stadium into one which is also suitable for hosting concerts and other events.

They have hosted the likes of Taylor Swift, whose three nights in L4 are believed to have generated around £10m for the club.

Everton have been open about their desire to rival Liverpool’s stadium as the go-to venue for music and non-football sports events in the city.

In fact, the stadium was designed with this very purpose in mind, with the opportunity to stage combat sports and gigs at Bramley Moore Dock a major consideration for architect Dan Meis.

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