Friedkin Group decision explained as Everton Women sale helps PSR and USA plan

Friedkin Group decision explained as Everton Women sale helps PSR and USA plan

Everton owners The Friedkin Group have sold the women's team to a sister company to encourage US investment

A general view outside Goodison Park of an Everton badge (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Everton owners The Friedkin Group have sold the club’s women’s team to a sister company. The move will generate tens of millions in paper profits for the Toffees.

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In a move similar to what Chelsea last year in selling their women’s team to a related company at a valuation of near £200m, 17 times revenue, the Toffees have sold Everton Football Club Women Ltd to a holding company called Roundhouse Capital Holdings, a company owned and controlled by TFG chief Dan Friedkin. The move was confirmed by Companies House this week.

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Revenues for Everton Women for the most recently published set of accounts for 2023/24 were £3.2m. While the sale figure has remained undisclosed for now, were Everton to sell their women’s team at a similar level then that would represent a £55m valuation.

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It is understood that the move was ratified at fair market value by the Premier League and the Women’s Super League, with Goodison Park, which will become the permanent home of Everton Women moving forward, now sitting as a tangible asset on the books of the women’s team.

The move was done at the end of June, the very end of Everton’s 2024/25 financial year. It is a move that will generate considerable profit for the men’s team due to the sale, funds that will positively impact the club’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) position, although club sources state that the move was not motivated to aid their PSR position. Everton were expected to be PSR compliant for 2024/25 before the sale of the women’s team to Roundhouse Capital.

It is, however, an undeniable boost to the club that hands them a profit that gives far greater headroom when it comes to PSR for 2025/26, the financial year that Everton currently find themselves in, and that will have a knock-on effect in terms of what the club can do in the transfer market, especially in the face of limited player sales that can bring in revenue in the coming weeks.

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But the move is about more than simply aiding the here and now for the men’s team, with the commitment to keeping Goodison Park as an asset for the women’s team, a decision communicated some weeks back, seen as a statement of intent by TFG as to how highly they value the women’s team and its potential for growth.

TFG wanted to have Everton Women as a standalone entity so as to encourage investment into the team. That investment is likely to arrive in time from the United States. Sources have told the ECHO that TFG have no intention of selling a majority position in the women’s team but are seeking minority partner.

It represents an attractive opportunity for US investors. Everton Women are something of a unicorn in the English women’s game as they are to have their own stadium with a major capacity. Having that asset, as well as the lower cost of entry required to invest in the WSL, makes the club an interesting proposition, with club valuations expected to be on a sharp incline in the coming years, steeper than the men’s game for those outside the ‘big six’. That won’t have been harmed by England’s Lionesses lifting the Euro 2025 trophy on Sunday evening.

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Valuations of teams in the NWSL, the highest level of women’s football in the US have skyrocketed in recent years. Nine of the clubs are valued at over $100m and it’s widely predicted among private equity figures involved in sport that the ECHO has spoken to that a $1bn franchise value will be coming down the tracks in the not too distant future.

The NWSL’s structure has attracted huge investment, including plenty of celebrity money, with the likes of Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Serena Williams, James Corden and Patrick Mahomes, among many others, all having taken stakes in teams, along with a host of private equity giants who see the prospect of big returns.

The hope is that over time the WSL can enjoy similar success in terms of attracting investment and attention, and Everton have made the move, following on from those made by Chelsea and Aston Villa, to position themselves to make the most of the opportunities.

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Having a major capacity stadium for the women’s team is a major draw at a time when no other WSL operates in their own bespoke stadium, instead renting facilities or sharing the occasional game at the home stadium of the men’s team.

Everton are now the third Premier League club to make such a move, with Villa making the move after member clubs chose to reject a motion by the Premier League officials to bring about an end to selling assets such as the women’s team to aid PSR positions. The rule change never garnered enough support from the 20 member clubs.

While the Premier League permits the move, UEFA does not allow profits generated from the sale of such assets to be taken into account when it comes to their own financial regulations, although that only effects clubs taking part in European competition.

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