Everton has insisted that its stadium project at Bramley-Moore Dock remains “firmly on track and on schedule”, with the Premier League club confident that the venue will be completed in the final months of 2024.
Colin Chong, Everton’s interim chief executive and chief stadium development officer, provided an update on the project yesterday (Wednesday) and played down talk of a delay as “ill-informed media reports”.
Reports suggested this week that the stadium would not be ready for the start of the 2024-25 season, but Chong has said that a precise moving-in-date has never been publicly set by the club.
Chong noted that the club has “repeatedly stated” that the schedule of the development will see construction partner Laing O’Rourke hand over the keys to the stadium “during” the 2024-25 season, rather than ahead of the start of the campaign.
No specific opening date has been set for the 52,888-capacity stadium, but Chong said the club is planning on staging test events in the final months of 2024. Chong has also not ruled out the possibility of Everton playing the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign at Goodison Park ahead of the move to Bramley-Moore Dock.
Chong, who was recently named interim chief executive of Everton following the departure of Denise Barrett-Baxendale, said: “If the project remains on schedule, it raises the question as to whether the club moves in mid-season or alternatively, do we wait and give the Grand Old Lady (Goodison Park) a fitting send-off before commencing competitive league games for the senior men’s team at the start of the 2025-26 season.
“Whatever decision is reached, it won’t be based on sentiment; it will be reached in consultation with fans, while also considering the impacts it will have across our football club in terms of our football operation, our commercial partners and third-party contracts, our staff, seasonal workflows and the impact, of course, on supporters.
“Moving mid-season may offer some commercial benefits, but also presents a series of challenges and hurdles that could negatively impact other aspects of the club – and other commercial considerations. What I can say categorically is that, today, the project is several weeks ahead of schedule, with another winter to come.”
In the coming months, Everton will be consulting supporters further on the digital journey of the stadium and the migration process from Goodison Park.
Everton officially commenced work on the stadium on July 26, 2021, with a groundbreaking ceremony taking place on August 10. All four stands have since been erected to full height, and in April Everton and Laing O’Rourke held a ‘topping out’ ceremony to mark the completion of the structure.
The stadium has been included on a list of 10 venues proposed in the UK and Ireland’s final bid to host UEFA Euro 2028.
