Everton snubs £30m combined authority stadium loan
Metro mayor Steve Rotheram confirmed that the club has secured private sector funding for its 53,000-capacity ground at Bramley-Moore Dock and no longer requires the loan.
Everton FC will still use a £15m grant from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, aimed at restoring heritage assets on the site.
Last September, the combined authority approved the £15m grant and £30m loan for the stadium project, believing it would be “the catalyst for the transformational regeneration of communities across North Liverpool and South Sefton”, Rotheram said.
Everton would not disclose where the alternative funding was coming from or how much it was worth when contacted by Place North West.
Construction of the £500m stadium is underway but a potential £30m naming rights deal with Russian company USM has been suspended amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The club said the stadium’s construction programme is unaffected.
Everton also suspended commercial ties with two other Russian firms, Yota and Megafon, both part of the USM Group in which Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov owns a 49% stake.
Everton is not the ony football club to cut ties with Russian companies due to the Ukraine conflict. Manchester United terminated a £40m sponsorship deal with airline Aeroflot while German side Schalke cut ties with shirt sponsor Gazprom.
With relegation pending, you just know that the stadium is about to be value-engineered to a level befitting a second-tier team. Something of the standard of the new White Hart Lane it most certainly won’t be.
By Scourge of Rome
If the Mayor has some money to offer how about a new train station near the Vauxhall area both for the stadium and local employment/residential use.
By Anonymous
Anon – its repayable loan they have declined so I’m not sure how that could be used towards a station. Please explain
By Granty Loanloan
If this gets value engineered in any way it could end up looking awful
By Anonymous
Will they still take the £15m free cash?…
If the loan was turned down on the basis of better value elsewhere, it was a bit silly not to tie the two together.
By Jeff
Best looking stadium in the country Everton are not doing to good ATM in the premier league but they will bounce back
By Anonymous
It will be the best looking stadium in the championship
By Disgruntled Goat
Jeff, why would you want to force them to take a loan they now don’t want by tying it to the grant?? Strange take.
By Granty Loanloan