The Friedkin Group have dropped a hint about the value of a shirt sponsor at one of their teams, according to reports in Italy.
The Everton, Roma and AS Cannes owners are reportedly asking for a £20m a year deal to secure a front of shirt sponsor for Roma, according to RomaPress, just a month after Dan Friedkin stepped in personally to secure a major sponsor for the Italian side.
With Everton’s £10m a year shirt deal with Stake coming to an end at the end of the season, the figure hints at the ball park the group will be seeking for its clubs. While Roma can offer European football this season, Everton are a club in a significantly more marketable league and it would make sense for the group to seek a similar number at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The Premier League’s most lucrative shirt sponsor is Manchester United’s £60m deal with Snapdragon, but Aston Villa’s £20m per year deal with Betano and Fulham and West Ham’s £10m per year deals would suggest Everton will be attracting more money next year.
According to The Sponsor, Everton’s £10m a year deal is undervalued for 2025 by around £4m, although this does not factor in any on-pitch improvement this season and the new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The reports from Roma also suggest the Friedkin Group would not be afraid to step in and secure a sponsor closer to home if the value cannot be found on the open market.
Roma are currently without a front of shirt sponsor for the current season despite rumoured talks with Turkish Airlines and Riyadh Season, which has previously sponsored the club.
RomaPress says the Friedkin Group would not be against using one of their own companies as a stop gap, with 01 Studios or the technology company Rubicon Technologies potential options for the club’s centenary season.
Roma already feature the Friedkin Group’s luxury hotel chain Auberge Resorts on the back of their shirts while Toyota sponsors the training kits.
Everton have not yet been sponsored by any Friedkin Group brands but did feature Lexus advertising in Goodison Park’s final season. The club does not have a training ground or training kit sponsor, which could be options to help the club with PSR in future.
Previous training ground sponsor USM paid around £30m across five years, according to reports, while Spurs training kit sponsor deal with BetMGM is worth around £10m per season. Everton would not be able to command those figures but £10-£15m for both per season would be a major boost to the club’s coffers.
Everton have their own kit sponsorship conundrum on the horizon when widely unpopular gambling sponsor Stake will be taken off the front of the shirts. The sponsor, which has lost its UK licence, will be banned alongside all front of shirt gambling sponsors in the Premier League from the 2025/26 season.
Worryingly, clubs would still be allowed to feature gambling sponsors on sleeves but Everton already have a long-term sleeve sponsor in Christopher Ward, which has also opened its own watch-themed corporate area of Hill Dickinson Stadium and launched a new Everton-inspired watch based on the famous win over Bayern Munich in the 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final at Goodison Park.
Everton are currently banned from advertising Stake to a UK audience, which means all mention of the company has been stripped from the Everton website for UK visitors.
It means Stake will likely be dropped completely by the club next year, meaning a new shirt sponsor will need to be found by the Friedkin Group and Everton’s new board led by CEO Angus Kinnear.