Everton new stadium to open for the 2025/26 season

A fresh start with Everton choosing to delay the opening for another season.

Transcript

00:00 Finally on Everton, obviously the decision to open their new stadium for the start of the 25/26 season.

00:07 I mean, we've spoke about the impact it has on the community and the club as a whole,

00:11 and they wanted to ensure they were a Premier League club for that opening as well.

00:16 What do you see coming from this? It must be, you know, a real positive that they are planning to open it.

00:22 Yeah, of course. Yeah, I think obviously the timeline's always been

00:26 the stadium construction will be complete by late 2024, so around a year's time.

00:33 And then the question was, well, do Everton move into it midway through next season,

00:38 or do they wait until the season after? And you can see both arguments.

00:42 You can see why Everton, some fans might have wanted to move as soon as possible.

00:48 Now, do you think the additional revenue that that stadium is going to bring into the club,

00:53 it's going to be massive for Everton? It'll be, you know, all the new...

01:01 Apart from that, you know, they've got additional seating and then all the sorts of corporate revenue

01:09 that it'll bring in will be significant. But you can understand why it has been delayed.

01:15 It just means that when Everton do move, they can get it to a T. They're not in a rush to move it.

01:19 They can get the test events correct. If there's any teaming problems, they can get those done.

01:25 And as well, I think it gives businesses a bit more quality around Goodson Park

01:32 and who are going to be opening around Bramley Mall as well, because if you're moving midway

01:37 through a season, Everton might not have known the exact date, to be honest with you.

01:40 They might have thought, "Oh, right, we can move in three weeks now."

01:44 And you've got pubs and cafes and chippies around Goodson.

01:49 We'll go, "Well, what does that mean for us now? We're going to lose out on X amount of

01:54 on-batch day money." So I think that helps for the local economy as well, you know,

02:00 this plan going forwards. And maybe with the stadium opening at the start of the season,

02:07 that summer as well beforehand, you can have more events, you know, concerts, etc.,

02:12 which will bring in additional revenue. And that can help with any teaming problems as well,

02:17 maybe for match days. And you haven't got to worry that, "Right, we need to get the season

02:23 finished," etc., and then we can move on to that potentially. I don't know. But, I mean,

02:28 you see it going up at a rate of knots every week at the stadium. And when you go past it now,

02:36 you can really see what it's going to be like on a match day. Real excitement. And, you know,

02:43 there'll be a lot. It'll be a poignant last season as well at Goodson. Obviously, it'll be 134 years

02:48 that Everton have been the grand old lady before they move, times have to change. But, you know,

02:54 Everton fans can at least go to Goodson that final season. Now we might only be here 19 times,

03:00 18 times, start ticking them down and actually really, really make sure that they remember the

03:06 experience and don't take it for granted.