Tens of thousands are about to make new memories in Everton's stunning stadium, and every one of them will be helping the Blues as they do so. Hill Dickinson Stadium has a packed schedule of events that will see huge crowds head to the waterfront for football, rugby and golf spectacles. With the opening of a new restaurant with views across the Mersey and one-off experiences like the planned evening with boxing legends Tony Bellew and Joe Calzaghe, the coming weeks will quickly showcase how the stadium is adding a new dimension to Liverpool's sports, cultural and entertainment scenes.
Economic and Financial Impact
The impact of Hill Dickinson Stadium's first full summer will provide a major boost for Liverpool's economy. It will also help Everton's financial position, too, as the club looks to continue to build towards the future. That is one of the incentives driving the work of Aaron Duckmanton, the club's chief revenue officer. Looking ahead to a period that will see the Blues host landmark sporting events including the visit of the Lionesses this week, rugby league's Magic Weekend set piece and even England's rugby union side taking on Fiji, he told the ECHO: "The changing rules in the way revenues for clubs can be spent on players is well documented, so diversifying the way that we bring in revenue outside of just our 19 home games, or outside of our player trading, is really important."
Revenue Diversification Strategy
"We've seen the success of Tottenham and Arsenal and West Ham and Aston Villa who've been able to add events to their calendar and that allows them to grow their revenues. If we can grow our revenues indirectly that allows us to spend more on the pitch. The whole football events, commercial, revenue, cycle and ecosystem works really well together. So the more we can put in that stadium, the more our revenues grow."
The capacity to expand on events beyond football was a central driver in the emotional departure from Goodison Park. The infrastructure in and around the Grand Old Lady limited what the club could do at a time when doing more became a necessity as financial regulations tightened. Hill Dickinson Stadium is a game-changer on that front. The move has allowed Everton to form commercial partnerships with global heavyweights like Heinz, Pepsi and Budweiser while the versatility of the stadium complex has already seen it become a destination for rugby league showpieces and international football.
Record Revenues and On-Pitch Investment
The impact for the club is seismic, with record revenues of around £250m expected for the first financial year since the stadium move. The consequence is more money that can be spent on improving the first-team football operation as commercial activity dovetails with on-the-pitch progress to create what should be a sustainable rise in ambition. This summer's schedule will lay the foundation of the income for 2026-27 - meaning it was crucial Duckmanton and his team were able to attract events to the stadium.
Challenges and Selling Points
That was no easy feat given conversations had to start before the stadium's versatility had been highlighted to the world. Selling the venue was, however, straightforward once organisers saw how impressive it was with their own eyes. Duckmanton said: "One of the things that people like when they book events is familiarity. There's a lot of great stadiums in the North West and there's a lot of competitive stadiums and Premier League stadiums across the UK who are all vying for these major events. What we do have is hands down the best stadium in the UK, if not in Europe. So one of the challenges has been getting people up, getting them to understand what the venue offers, the experience that we can deliver both in terms of the on-pitch, in-venue experience, but also our food and beverage, our hospitality, our plaza, our access. So it's been a challenge to get everyone up to see it, to understand it, but once we've had the right rights holders, the right people from various federations or event programs and organisations come up, it's been a pretty easy sell once they've seen it, what they could do with the venue. They've loved it. There's nobody who can walk around that stadium and say its accessibility, its experience, our food and beverage delivery isn't best in class."
Upcoming Events and Future Plans
That reputation is bolstered every time another major event is successfully held at Hill Dickinson Stadium - as has already been the case with the Ashes rugby league test between Great Britain and Australia and the Ivory Coast football friendly with Scotland. England Women's game with Ukraine on Tuesday (June 9) is next up in a programme that has seen record sales for Magic Weekend next month and with the rugby league international between England and Fiji having been drawn away from Twickenham. Other events include the first Upper Deck Golf experience in Europe, which will see tee boxes positioned in the stands and greens laid out on the pitch to coincide with The Open being held at Birkdale.
Despite creating such an impressive calendar for summer 2026, there is little rest for Duckmanton and his team. Work is well underway for the coming years - a period that is expected to see Hill Dickinson Stadium expand from sport into other areas like music. He said: "The programme already confirmed for this summer shows the scale of what is possible at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but our ambition does not stop there. We are already working on plans for summer 2027 and 2028 including live music events, as we continue to build a calendar that makes full use of the stadium, the waterfront setting and the spaces around it. The aim is to keep adding new reasons for people to visit Hill Dickinson Stadium outside of Everton matchdays, and to establish it as one of the most exciting venues for major events in the UK."
