English Premier League football club Everton has secured a naming-rights deal with USM Holdings for its Finch Farm training ground.
The facility will officially be known as USM Finch Farm as part of a five-year deal to run until January 2022.
USM Holdings is the holding company for the business interests of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who holds a major stake in fellow Premier League club Arsenal.
The company will be granted a set of global rights as part of the agreement. Benefits will include presence on media interview backdrops, LED advertising at the club’s Goodison Park stadium, VIP hospitality packages and player access for brands within the group.
“The naming of Finch Farm, and the extensive package of marketing rights, provides USM and the businesses within our group with unique year-round global media exposure,” Ivan Streshinsky, a member of the board of directors at USM Holdings, said. “We’ve done considerable research into what this partnership can deliver for us and we’re very excited about the difference this will make as we continue to build our brands.”
Everton chief executive Robert Elstone added: “We are really pleased to welcome USM into our commercial portfolio as training ground naming-rights partner. I’m sure that the marketing platform this provides USM and its businesses will help them achieve their growth objectives. It is a significant and exciting deal for Everton as we continue to grow our commercial revenues.
“We’ve invested heavily into our training facilities over recent years and this deal means we can continue to provide top class facilities, which we know plays an important role in attracting the best playing talent, from academy right through to first-team.”
Businesses within USM Holdings include Metalloinvest, the largest mining company in Russia and the CIS and the leading global manufacturer of hot briquetted iron; Baikal Mining Company, which owns one of the largest copper reserves in the world; MegaFon, one of the major telecommunications operators in Russia, and Mail.Ru Group, the Russian internet leader and owner of Russia’s most popular social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
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