The first commercial deals under Everton’s owners The Friedkin Group have quietly started to appear around Goodison Park.
When the club was taken over by Dan Friedkin’s group he told fans they would be quiet owners, rarely engaging unless necessary and proving their commitment through actions. The first signs of that are already here as leaks about the club’s transfer business ended almost overnight.
A second hint about the group’s plans for securing the future of Everton has now appeared with little fanfare and eagle eyed fans will have already spotted it.
The club’s brilliant 4-0 victory over Leicester was the second consecutive home game where pitchside advertising featured the name of Lexus, the luxury car brand that falls under the same ownership group as Toyota.
Interestingly, the other pitchside advertisements on show as Everton thrashed Leicester were either Premier League or current club partners. Bramley Moore founding partner Christopher Ward had prominent adverts throughout the match, while Red Bull, which announced an official partnership with the club last year, also featured adverts.
Lexus is not an official sponsor of the Premier League, which means it is appearing as part of a direct deal with the club.
The club has never announced an official partnership with Lexus but it will come as no surprise to those who have followed The Friedkin Group’s other interests. Dan Friedkin, the Houston-based billionaire who now owns Everton, also owns Gulf States Toyota Distributors, which distributes Toyota cars and their other brands across the US.
It would also not be the first time the Friedkin Group have used their contacts at Toyota. At Roma, another Friedkin Group club, Toyota announced a partnership in 2022 to become the club’s main global partner. Toyota sponsored the team’s training kits and provided a fleet of electric Toyota and Lexus vehicles to the club.
Roma’s list of official sponsors also includes Auberge Resorts, the high end hotel chain owned by the Friedkin Group. It seems Everton are now the beneficiaries of the Friedkin Group’s business contacts in a minor way on Goodison Park hoardings.
It could be a hint about Everton’s future stadium naming deal too. The naming rights for Everton’s stunning new stadium at Bramley Moore could net the club anywhere between £150m-£200m and reports last October suggested the club had already fielded offers for the naming rights. If that is the case Toyota or Lexus could feature if the Friedkin’s decide to go with a brand they already work with.
The Friedkin’s have secured external sponsorship at Roma too. The group has close ties with Saudi Arabia and Riyadh Season, a series of sporting and cultural events including boxing, is a major sponsor of the club. The Friedkin’s have also secured a deal with kit maker Adidas and as of next season will be classed as an ‘Elite’ Adidas club, meaning they will have unique kit designs and merchandise ranges sold to a global fan base.
The move to secure more sponsorship from Lexus matches one of the promises the group made after finalising the deal to buy Everton. It said: “Maximising the potential of the new stadium through long-term commercial partnerships and events that benefit the city of Liverpool.”
It could be the first hint about how they plan to maximise that potential has already appeared.