Everton’s $700M Stadium Won’t Open Before 2024-25 Season Starts

Everton’s new stadium — which broke ground in 2021 with a nearly $700 million price tag — won’t be ready in time for the start of the 2024-25 season after all.

In a written update on Everton’s website, Colin Chong, the team’s interim CEO and chief stadium development officer, assured fans construction will be completed in late 2024 but stressed that no move-in date has ever been officially set. Chong insisted there’s been no delay to the project, citing “some ill-informed media reports” about the construction timeline.

Options include a transition during the 2024-25 season or playing that entire campaign at current home Goodison Park before opening the new venue at the start of the 2025-26 season.

No update was given on the project’s budget — which was potentially becoming more expensive than originally thought — or the status of any naming rights after the club paused its search for a sponsor last year.

The new Everton Stadium is being built on Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool, about two miles from their local rivals at Anfield. That’s actually more than the lone mile that separates Goodison Park from Anfield — which is also going through major construction as part of a years-long renovation process.

Everton will want to improve on its 17th-place finish in the EPL last season — narrowly missing relegation — to make sure its new stadium is christened with a top-tier match.