A question of non-TV Revenue

John Voight — you are just the person we need in our non-existent marketing department. If blue-blooded Bill reads this, he’ll have a fainting episode...

Everton do need a new marketing staff. Everton have a very good brand to sell but they do a terrible job of increasing the non-TV revenue.

Another thing Everton should consider is bringing in a US sports science team for training purposes. I think the US is ahead of the world in this area of sports. What US training staffs do with US NBA basketball players to get them to quickly recover for games is incredible. Pretty much the same for US NFL football teams.

The US Mens National soccer team benefits from Jurgen Klinsmann being our national team coach. He really preaches fitness and training and it shows up in our teamÂ’s play. An example was our recent friendly with Germany where the US conceded early against the Germans who played with pace and really looked good the first 30 minutes. In the 2nd half, the USA outplayed the Germans mainly because our players were in better playing shape.

Have you ever seen the England national team run a top team into the ground and win??? (It was fun watching the US looking like the most likely team to score in the 2nd half in Cologne last week). No, Germany didnÂ’t play all their World Cup starters, but the players on that started were a pretty impressive bunch.

While weÂ’re on the subject of the US Mens National Team (as it relates to Everton), IÂ’d say tim HowardÂ’s dip in form this season occurred during the time when he took a break from the USMNT. If Tim rejoins the USMNT, I look for his form to improve based on the fitness improvement heÂ’ll have by showing up to USA national team camps. HeÂ’ll also be more than pushed by Aston VillaÂ’s Brad Guzan. IÂ’ve rated Guzan above Howard for about 2-3 years.

For a real out-of-the-box idea sign Brad Guzan. HeÂ’s younger and better than Howard and you can SELL MORE JERSEYS!!! He also wouldnÂ’t cost that much.

Everton lost out when they didnÂ’t beat Spurs to DeAndre Yedlin, the right back who played for Clint DempseyÂ’s Seattle Sounders. HeÂ’s got incredible pace and I think thereÂ’s a decent chance heÂ’ll be a starter for Spurs the second half of next season. He runs up the right side with much more pace than Kyle Walker, can cross the ball, and also can cut inside. HeÂ’s not a one-trick pony.

When I first started watching Kyle Walker, I thought he was really good but, looking at his stats over the last 5 seasons, IÂ’m not impressed (he canÂ’t shoot, he canÂ’t cross the ball, and he his shots are usually 10 rows or above up in the stands).

Again, Cleverley and Deulofeu are good signings, but not the ones I really want to see.

John Voight

Like many on here, you are a commercial marketing expert. However, if you think shirt sales are the answer to our problems you are deluded.

LetÂ’s say, for example we sell 200,000 shirts per year. This is probably optimistic. (AC Milan sell 400,000.) LetÂ’s imagine because of our shit marketing department and our failure to buy an American footballer we are missing out on 50,000 shirt sales a year.

Forget the Kitbag deal (one we only signed because we were losing money on shirt sales) and letÂ’s estimate we can make 㿊 a shirt sale net profit (optimistic!!) that gives us ٟ.5M.

In terms of Premier League money this is buttons.

We get lots on here decrying our commercial functions, in reality it makes fuck all difference.

Graham, interesting reaing for you.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2738568/Manchester-United-Real-Madrid-continue-replica-shirt-sales-charts-selling-average-1-5m-year.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2921301/Manchester-red-Liverpool-sell-shirts-Bristol-Merseyside-s-London-sales-popular-all.html

Graham, 30 x 200,000 = 6 million

John Voigt loved your observations about the blues which are mostly common sense solutions. Something sadly lacking at board level, and shows how out of touch or just plain disinterested the present owners have become.
Feel free to send your CV to the blues with a view to getting a top marketing job.

Graham (#140)

I donÂ’t totally disagree with what youÂ’re saying, but I do think thereÂ’s method to my madness (with US, Japanese and Korean players).

Adding a single popular player from one of these countries wouldnÂ’t about to a whole lot (your point).

If you have 5-6 players from these countries and visit them for 2 post season games and 2 preseason games youÂ’re not talking "buttons" (thatÂ’s a Brit expression IÂ’m not familiar with).

You get to have 17 over 21 age international players on a Premier League squad right now and my point is having those players come from Bosnia, Spain,Ireland or Scotland isnÂ’t doing much for the Blues.

I donÂ’t have an estimate on how much money this potentially represents, but it could get Everton a new shirt sponsor for more than "buttons".

Playing in Seattle for 1 game would make Everton a nice sum (70,000 capacity stadium filled at London prices) Seattle is home to Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks. ItÂ’s a jersey selling paradise if more Yanks are on the Everton team.

Between 4 games in the US, Japan and Korea to show case players born there Everton would reap lots more than the 1.5 million figure you quoted.

A better shirt company and shirt sponsor would be a major boost (just buy out Chang).

I read an article in the Guardian that said that EvertonÂ’s non TV revenue was around 17 million so 1.5 million would represent close to 10% of the total non-TV revenue (percentage wise thatÂ’s not "buttons").

ItÂ’s my opinion that Everton could easily double their non-TV revenue, but the clubÂ’s business as usual philosiphy rules. Clubs like Manchester United get more revenue from just the shirt sponsor (Chevrolet), than Everton receive from all non-TV revenue (which includes all gamely revenue). This doesnÂ’t include the lucrative deal Manchester United have with Nike.

Andy

WhatÂ’s your point? Even if we could generate ٤m a year from shirt sales and I suspect we couldnÂ’t, it still only equates to the wages of one player.

The answer to our problems is not shirt sales, itÂ’s a smokescreen.

My only point was the sum you quoted was wrong. I did not state anything about solving any problems.

John,

Just give me the numbers. Show me exactly how you can significantly improve commercial revenues.

If you can get to an extra 㾶m per year over our current efforts IÂ’ll be interested.

Andy

You should read it again. I said an extra 50 000 sales at 㿊 therefore ٟ.5.

"Have some hot shot marketing company figure out which colors US fans like the most and put Tim Howard in those colors"

Good idea. I vote black. However, rather than aiming to entice yanks, I say we look to catch the roving eye of the refuse collector. Dress Howard in a bin liner, chuck him out in the backstreet on collection day and maybe the dustieÂ’s will scoop him up. Might not bring in any extra Â’dollarsÂ’, but itÂ’ll drastically reduce the amount of Â’fuck offÂ’sÂ’ I fling around during a game.

Got it, you are saying we are missing out on an extra 1.5 million per year. Sorry for thinking from your post that we were only getting 1.5 million.

John,
I am sure our local binman (Southall) would gladly take him to the tip.

John Voigt,

Can I just get this straight? According to you EvertonÂ’s number 1 priority each year is staying out of a relegation scrap and your suggestion to improve this situation amounts to flooding the squad with players from the US, Japan and Korea?

I imagine your sat puffing on a massive stogie right about now, getting ready to tell Â’FaceÂ’ how he can break Howling Mad Murdock out of the funny farm without fannying about with any of that boring Â’filling out paper workÂ’ business.

IÂ’ve looked for revenue numbers for Premier League pre and post game matches, but I donÂ’t come up with much.

This shirt selling is not "buttons".

HereÂ’s a link to a website that listÂ’s the shirt sponsorship deals for Premier League teams:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/manchester-uniteds-chevrolet-deal-pushes-premier-league-shirt-values-to-191m-9635617.html

If you donÂ’t want to check this webpage out it mentions Man. United get 47 million, Arsenal get 30 million, Liverpool and Man City get 20 million, Chelsea get 18 million and Spurs get 16 million. then thereÂ’s a big drop to Newcastle at 6 million. Everton get 5.3 million.

This is just the name on the shirt not the shirt company (like Nike).

Everton have very little money in their summer transfer kitty in a large part because they donÂ’t market their brand well and the shirt sponsor and shirt company are the 2 biggest short fallings.

Do I have figures on how much Everton could improve their non-TV revenue. The answer is no!!!

I am saying that other teams have figured out a way to sign up high profile sponsors and Everton have a Thai Beer Company (I can throw down a pint or 2 and IÂ’ve never had a Chang and have never seen one in a store).

My point is Everton should chase US, Japanese or Korean multinational corporations for sponsorship. This isnÂ’t a novel idea as Chevrolet sponsors United and Samsung sponsors Chelsea.

The task of moving from a Thai Beer Company to a huge multinational corporation would be a whole lot easier to sell if there were household name cult heros playing for Everton that are based in the country that Everton is seeking sponsorship. Signing Honda, the AC Milan player and then going after Honda the car maker makes sense to me. US sponsors are interested in the Premier League (HP sponsored Spurs last season).

Sign 3-4 REALLY popular US players would potentially open doors to a US multinational company being the Everton sponsor.

I really think Everton with a good plan could easily go from a 5 million a year sponsor to a 10 million a year sponsor (Spurs get 16 million so 10 million instead of 5 is realistic).

If Everton get 5 million more for the shirt sponsor IÂ’m 1/2 way to a previous poster who said could Everton increase their yearly non-TV revenue by 10 million and I still havenÂ’t negotiated a new shirt company deal).

If you assume 5 million more is coming in from a shirt sponsor and 4-5 players are signed from countries IÂ’ve mention I do realistically expect the non-TV revenue of Everton would increase by at least 10 million a year. Playing friendlies in HUGE stadiums in the right sights could easily push this even further.

If you asked me to ballpark what I could do increasing EvertonÂ’s non-TV revenue IÂ’d have goal to get from the 17 million range Everton are in now and increase the amount to 30 million.

I truly believe this is not rocket science (but it does require a comprehensive plan including popular players from targeted countries, new shirt sponsor, new shirt company and lucrative friendlies in huge stadiums).

Like IÂ’ve mentioned, sharing revenue from a game in Seattle against Clint DempseyÂ’s team with HUGE jersey sales the day before would be the 1st thing I tried to implement.

Have I mentioned I support the Blues???

John Daley (#152)

Unfortunately I do think the Blues #1 goal is to stay out of the relegation scrap. This is based on clubs with similar means either recently being relegated (Newcastle) or this year Aston Villa being in the relegation scrap.

To be hones,t Everton werenÂ’t that far away from the relegation scrap this season (in the 2nd half of the season no less).

I’m not saying "flood" the Everton roster from US, Japanese or Korean players. You get to have 17 over 21 internationals on your squad. If 6 of those players were from the 3 counties I mentioned that’s not "flooding" the squad – It’s smart marketing!!!

John Voight, if you stood for president (and I was a Yank) youÂ’d get my vote. Then you could make Buffet or Bill Gates buy Everton and kick those Arabs and Russian oligarchs into the stands, or bleachers whatever you call them.

John Voight for president and Angie for First Lady!

Smart marketing? More like naive fantasy. ItÂ’s all too easy (and far too simplistic) to proclaim that simply signing a few names of the same nationality will automatically act like pheromones to a large proportion of a particular population and encourage them to empty the vast contents of their purses EvertonÂ’s way.

We had the Â’Chinese David BeckhamÂ’ and his mate the Â’Chinese Worzel GummidgeÂ’ in tandem at one point, and dim sums still didnÂ’t add up.

John Voight - I applaud you for your ideas, but let me add a caveat. Without on-field success, no amount of signing foreign players in Â’big-economyÂ’ countries will matter. The modern supporter and big corporates flock to winners; consistent winners.

We played this great pre-season tournament in the US during MartinezÂ’s first season. There we saw some full-ish grounds, but most of the fans came to cheer our opposition (Madrid) and in particular super-star galactico CR7. If we had CR7, we wouldnÂ’t need a single American player for the next decade but weÂ’ll still get plenty of US supporters.

Tons of Japanese watch the Bundesliga instead of the EPL since that league has simply more Japanese presence overall. Signing the isolated Kagawa will not sway the overall Japanese fascination to the EPL (and guess what, Shinji is back in Germany now anyway).

Newcastle literally had the entire French national team in the last few years, but Boygues, Carrefour or Total didnÂ’t give them even a baguette sponsorship let alone t-shirts. So once again, without on field success, all this makes for a good powerpoint presentation and thatÂ’s about it.

John Daley,

Everton need to do something different. Everton now have the same transfer kitty as promoted sides. ThereÂ’s no financial advantage for Everton vs newly promoted sides. Swansea is an example. The Swans have very good players and as much or more than Everton have to spend this summer.

The failure is on the Blue management who canÂ’t come with a marketing plan that exploits the popularity of the Premier League WORLD WIDE!!!

Everton seem loyal to their Chang sponsorship and the money it pays simply SUCKS!!! The shirt sponsorship is piss poor.

Is this on us as supporters... NO. ItÂ’s on those within the club that market the club.

All the big money clubs have big money sponsors. Everton have a Thai Beer sponsor IÂ’ve never heard of outside of Everton.

If Everton had 㿀 million more to spend each summer, thatÂ’s potentially two additional 㾶 million transfer players. That would make Everton closer to Spurs.

As it stands, Everton is a selling club that takes fringe players from teams like Manchester United and Barcelona instead of purchasing high-priced players that really make a difference. Everton take loan deals instead of loaning out 10+ players like Chelsea do.

Again, IÂ’m a yank and IÂ’ve been following Premier League football for around 10 years... My rules of thumb looking at stats over the last year are these:

You want a Europa League place... Score 60 goals and earn 60 points in the league...

Want a Champions League place... Earn 70+ points and score 70 goals.

Everton did make it to 72 points not this season but the season before. That put them in the mix for possible Champions League spot, but Arsenal played really well at the end of that season.

Right now, I donÂ’t see the Everton squad scoring 60 points next season (or scoring 60 goals).

Bobby our managerÂ’s bullshit promises about Everton making Champions League are suffering because he doesnÂ’t have a team that has any reasonable chance of reaching 70+ points.

HeÂ’s working on a squad that will avoid relegation!!! (And not on having players from countries that would add revenue.)

John,

The manager of a football team looks to bolster his squad with players who he believes (rightly or wrongly) will improve results and performances out on the pitch. ThatÂ’s it. Potential Â’revenue streamsÂ’ and such like should have no bearing on who the man in charge of team affairs targets and seeks to attain.

You talk about a marketing plan to exploit the popularity of the Premier League worldwide? ThereÂ’s only one way to do it and itÂ’s not signing a striker from LA Galaxy, playing a couple of friendlies stateside and recreating the Apollo Creed entrance into the ring from Rocky IV before every home game. Putting together a squad thatÂ’s good enough to start challenging for honours on a regular basis is the only guaranteed means of garnering a greater global Â’fan baseÂ’ and attracting the sort of interest and financial partners the most successful Premier League teams can point to.

I love the fact that you confidently state "If you asked me to ballpark what I could do increasing EvertonÂ’s non-TV revenue IÂ’d get from the 㾽 million range... to 㿊 million", like itÂ’s the most simplistic task in the world. If only it were.

Take your mad leap from signing Keisuke Honda (solely because of his name and nationality) to...."after we sign Honda we ring up Japanese car manufacturer Honda and see if they donÂ’t want to be the Everton shirt sponsor (and buy out Chang)". Err....ok. HereÂ’s a simple spanner in the works: What if they say Â’No. We donÂ’t want to. Fuck offÂ’?:

Â’What? But... but... we signed the living, breathing Honda in the belief that this was a dead cert and heÂ’d be wearing a shirt that said Â’HondaÂ’ both front and back. I really donÂ’t think you get what IÂ’m saying.

Maybe it’s just the language barrier. He’s called HONDA. You’re called HONDA. You’re both Japanese!!! It’s marketing magic. Honda and Honda, hand in hand.

We can sell Â’HondogsÂ’ at half time instead of hotdogs. How can you fail to see it? Three little letters difference and an alternative Asian birthplace and Hyundai wouldÂ’ve been all over this shit, IÂ’m telling ya!Â’

I do agree that signing key players from Japan, Korea, China, etc can boost the revenue from the Asian market.

Remember Nakata? How much money did he make for his clubs?

I suggest we sign a Japanese keeper as the backup to begin with to generate a little bit of a buzz.

John,
Unlike some I see the point you are trying to make.

Your sentiments are totally correct the whole marketing issue at Everton is piss poor, and thatÂ’s being kind!

Anything and everything that can be done to increase the money the manager can get to put a better team on the park must be good and hopefully cause a snowball effect.

So what if we only get ٣-10 million extra a year with a bit more thought and effort. ItÂ’s ٣-10 million we didnÂ’t have before.

Here’s a better idea: why not move the club lock stock and barrel to the mighty US of A – we could sign Hillary Clinton as well as her brother Dempsey Clinton (?).

Her husband could help with the advertising and selling of what would by then be a kit bedecked with the great star spangled banner and for every two shirts bought we could afford to have him give away Monica Lewinski branded zeegars.

OR and here’s another suggestion: get rid of our bearded American, and send him back home with a case full of jerseys to flog. That way he could possibly stop the rot in our sales department – god knows he can’t stop anything else.

Some people are missing the point here, I think. Look at the top 4 or 6 Premier League clubs – they are all owned by foreign billionaire; we are owned by a pauper.

John's idea would at least start to get us noticed, something we are sadly lacking at the moment on the global stage.

We have to start somewhere to develop the club financially, or we will always remain as plucky little Everton.

In hindsight, Everton are operating in the same way as they have done for nearly half-a-century, they have a minimum target and they spend a limited amount of money to attain that target. From that perspective there is no need to do anything more than they have been doing.

Obviously as fans we want more money invested in the club but the club arenÂ’t going to spend huge amounts on transfers or merchandising as that would be risky and Everton FC have never taken risks, even more so when the people who own the club are unprepared to cover those losses.

Until we see new owners at Goodison, there will be no outreach to a global market as the present regime is quite happy to fill Goodison Park and obtain a place in the top ten of the Premier League. The fans may dream about all kinds of things but the board are the ultimate pragmatists and they refuse to entertain the idea of throwing good money after bad – especially as there are no assets left to sell... apart from the current playing squad.

John V, I can definitely see what youÂ’re saying.

The total increase in revenue initially might not be great in selling extra shirts but each of those shirts will be seen by a few thousand people in the course of a seasonÂ’s watching matches in the local bar. And then some people will ask "Why Everton?" and then learn about our US (Korean / Japanese) players and want a shirt too, and then they spread the word and we have supporter growth.

I worked in Korea when Man Utd. Spurs and Bolton had Korean players in them and everyone was mad about getting shirts from those teams, yes, even Bolton. The local telly only showed games from those teams and if Park wasnÂ’t starting for Man Utd they wouldnÂ’t show their game, theyÂ’d have the Spurs or Bolton game on instead if their Korean was playing. They are very nationalistic as are the Japanese and will follow their local heroes.

The problem is our marketing. Last year when Everton visited Bangkok, they didnÂ’t bring a single shirt with them for sale, not even a coffee cup or scarf or sticker. So I doubt if they will bring kit along anywhere they visit in order to get the ball rolling.

Â’We have to start somewhere to develop the club financially, or we will always remain as plucky little Everton. Â’

We have to start somewhere????

where do you suggest?

Don’t you mean ’second rate Everton’ – I certainly didn’t see much evidence of ’pluck’ last season, either on or off the pitch.

Â’Pluck!!Â’ did you say??

The only ones that can be described with Â’pluckÂ’ are the Pheasant Pluckers that have the audacity to sit in their Directors Box and make as if all is well.

Pluck, my arse.

John Voigt is spot on regarding the lack of our marketing around the world. I wonÂ’t contest / dispute / drill down into the exact dollars & sense revenues that is being taken apart in the midst of the argument. The fact is that EvertonÂ’s presence outside England is pitiful, for the fourth most successful club.

The facts cited how we have failed to milk the Thai and Chinese market is more of the club’s inaction, rather than the fact that the market is not viable. In a recent conversation with friends, one of them made the remark that clubs like ours – with all the TV money coming – is not motivated to work any harder... ie, why should they do so, since there is a regular stream of income already coming in to pay the bills, the players, service the debts and the occasional buying of players.

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to agree. Sadly, I think the clubÂ’s leadership doesnÂ’t think that they want to put in the effort to grow the market further, as their priorities lay in tackling the immediate issues of the stadium, the debt etc.

Elstone and his team do not strike me as visionaries who can see beyond the shores of UK.

Brin 31 # Easy to understand your anger and frustration, sometimes I think we get what we deserve as Evertonians. The RS have the Sons of St John's Auntie or some such pressure group; when things are going tits up, they march through the streets of Anfield in a blaze of publicity. What do we do? Sweet FA, except moan our arses off.

At least John was being constructive and trying to find a solution; even if he was just day dreaming, I prefer that to accepting the situation and doing bugger all.

John (V that is), you have a point and some of the things you say make sense (and have been mentioned a few times on TW before); however, we already had the types of players you mention but unfortunately the club still screwed up the merchandising.

At one point, we had Cahill, Pienaar and Howard in their prime and they were huge in the football (soccer) markets of their respective countries – how many Everton shirts do you see in Australia, South Africa or the US? Pretty much sod all... I cannot remember seeing one shirt or banner during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and we had the host nation's best player and captain!

On-field success grows the brand but I agree with you in that we should be aiming for a more well known shirt sponsor than a little known Thai beer company. Also the Kitbag deal we have is awful and unfortunately still has a few years left!

I think Patrick Murphy (#28) has hit the nail on the head... the current owners are happy just to maintain the status quo of occasionally exceeding expectations but never taking any risk to try to improve the situation.

In his post, John does make some valid points in regards to selling merchandise, and let's face it, something is better than the nothing which is what we currently have. Michael Bradley may well have been an asset to us, however, in the current climate of not being able to buy/obtain on a free many players, I am not sure that getting players in, purely on where they are from, is going to help us really. We need players who can come in and improve us, not having a token American/Korean/Japanese etc who can sell jerseys.

I guess we fall into the chicken-and-egg category really in that, yes, having foreign players from large PL-watching countries could increase commercial funds by selling jerseys; however, we just donÂ’t have the luxury money to fund such a player so struggle to increase said commercial fund.

In this instance I surprisingly find myself agreeing with John Daley in that he says "The manager of a football team looks to bolster his squad with players who he believes (rightly or wrongly) will improve results and performances out on the pitch. That's it. Potential "revenue streams" and such like should have no bearing on who the man in charge of team affairs targets and seeks to attain." — For a manager, it's that simple.

Until we have owners that are more forward-thinking than the current incumbents, then our commercial revenue will continue to be awful.

What is really galling, and I imagine most Evertonians reacted the same as I initially did, with indignation, at John's early point in his post when he says that Everton's No 1 priority is avoiding relegation... With hindsight, I imagine that really is the No 1 priority of the board and anything else is a bonus... I guess thereÂ’s a reason why it's 20 years and counting... A very sad state of affairs.

I like your post, John V. Put simply, you highlight the fact that, if you aim safe and low, you invariably remain average.

Bill Kenwright canÂ’t be faulted in terms of protecting Everton but it is time to let it go. IÂ’d be lying if I said I wouldnÂ’t be worried by foreign ownership and their intentions, if indeed it ever did happen.

I think the club's leadership doesn't think that they want to put in the effort to grow the market further, as their priorities lay in tackling the immediate issues of the stadium, the debt etc.

But they are failing miserably on those fronts too Terence (32)

I agree, Eric #37.

They have been missing the boat/ bus for even the domestic aspects and the whole lot, for years.

Which we can either conclude that:

1) They have the heart in the right place, but not the head to execute them/ lead the club;
2) They canÂ’t be bothered and are trying to just milk the club for their own benefits;
3) Both to varying extents...

Hopefully, it’s more #1, and they will be humble enough to realize that, while they’ve missed windows of opportunities over the past 2½ decades of Premier League existence, it’s is still not too late to tap into the potential that our club can bring to investors.

"A club like Everton's top priority is to stay out of the relegation battle."

I stopped reading after that. Get out of here.

If John gets his daughter Angelina in a Everton shirt – we’d sell billions!

IÂ’m equally intrigued by this issue but my view of our lack of alternative funds stem from being unable to get better sponsorships. I agree getting marketable players will help but the leadership can also use more phone numbers to call because the current list of people they market to are not offering competitive deal money for the team to grow.

John, I canÂ’t wait to order a foot long hondog, love it fella, keep it coming.

When I heard the porn industry was worth $100 billion worldwide, it occurred to me that might be an avenue worth investigating... type stuff.

TheyÂ’re often looking to appear more... um... Â’legitimateÂ’ and might throw more at us than Chang or kitbag or any of the other two-bob outfits weÂ’ve done (shit) deals with.

Certainly the money would be no dirtier than ChelseaÂ’s and no-one seems too bothered about those two pimps at West Ham who have made millions from Frankie Vaughan.

And a Â’Big John Hot-dongÂ’ at half-time would certainly separate the men from the boys.

Funny Eugene, but itÂ’s a bit worrying what this site can get you thinking about at midnight!

John,

Good post (s). I have suggested similar things as well as an Everton academy and USL or NASL afiliated team like FC Twente does to create loyalty to the Everton brand regardless of players. If you have followed this site you will notice a disturbingly large percentage of posters that whine about EvertonÂ’s finances or lack thereof but yet frown upon every possible idea to alter the situation other than sell to a billionaire. Distorted reality meets "hide under the rock" mentality.

Obviously, the vast majority of the posters do not live over here and so know little about the attraction of soccer over here or how it works. We do not have multiple teams in each city so if you do not have a team in your city or even close (as is the case with Charlotte or Raleigh), then you will likely follow a US National Team player as well as CR and Messi, etc. You will then likely follow that player to his club. Over here we are not born Evertonians or Reds or Hammers, we are enticed and then hooked and reeled in similar to a fish on a shiny lure.

Amazing that Stoke City jerseys are easier to find over here than Everton ones. Is it a coincidence that Cameron plays for them. Aston Villa and Guzan, or Tottenham and Dempsey, Yedlin, Big Brad, and Keller? All have higher profiles. Man Utd and Chevy have commercials with half the damn squad in them including Rooney. I would hazard a guess that Americans could name as many Man Utd players as Everton players even though we donÂ’t have a single American on the squad. I wouldnÂ’t be surprised if Tottenham gained fans from the outstanding commercials about US football coach Ted Lasso, being hired and fired by Spurs.

Tim Howard and Landon Donovan drew many fans to Everton who if it had any marketing plan in place, could have attracted more people to the club. Barça hosts travelling academy camps and Chelsea sends reps to fan conventions in the USA to mix with the American Chelsea fans, but what does Everton do? Nothing, not even with players who live or spend substantial time here.

I am not a marketing expert and do not know if name recognition begets sponsors and sales or vice versa but wouldnÂ’t trying to succeed be better than just the status quo?

I would assume name recognition drives marketability so wouldnÂ’t that lead to signing one or two US players and other major market players. Even if they are loaned out during the regular season, if they are on a pre-season squad touring the respective market or country and are pictured wearing Everton gear, then people would still become fans and name recognition would increase as would potential or actual revenue. Even if it is $3 million that is still more than we would have otherwise and "gems" such as DelBoy can be had for that.