Kenyon Reviews ‘Special’ Night For Everton After Test Event Success

Richard Kenyon, Chief Commercial and Communications Officer at Everton, has described a “special night” for the Club after Everton opened its new stadium for the first test event on Monday evening.

10,000 fans were welcomed into the South Stand at the Blues’ new home, as Everton Under-18s played in a friendly fixture against Wigan Athletic Under-18s.

Under the lights at the impressive new world-class waterfront stadium, the event represented a “big milestone” for the Club, says Kenyon, who – speaking after the young Toffees’ match – told evertontv: “It’s great to see a team in blue – an Everton team – running out here after all these years we've been looking forward to it.

“Obviously, it was a test event so not everything's going to be absolutely perfect but from the feedback that we've had so far, everything seems to have gone pretty well.

“There's a debrief going on at the moment, so there'll be lots that we've learned, I'm sure, but the main thing is to get the supporters in, get the first game played and all of that to go well.

“It’s a big milestone for us in this project that we've all been so engaged with. Every Evertonian's been looking forward to tonight.”

Delighted to see Everton supporters at the stadium for the first time during a historic evening for the Club, Kenyon explained: “I was in and out of the stadium today and I came back in as a lot of the fans were coming through the dock wall and just the looks on people's faces – dads and lads, mums with their daughters, different generations all being together with big smiles on their faces.

“Everyone wanting to take a selfie, crossing that threshold for the first time onto the stadium site was just really, really special. And again, it was the same when people were going through the turnstiles for the first time. You could just see what it meant to people.

“It's been a long time in coming, this, a new stadium for Everton but hopefully those who got here tonight have really enjoyed it. I think it just felt like a really, really special night.”

Kenyon says the Club plans to use the stadium to host future sporting events outside of football, as well as cultural events, with the stadium becoming “an asset for the city”.

He added: “First and foremost, this is obviously a stadium for Everton, but we want this venue to be used year-round for different things, as well.

“We’ve got some plans that we're working on at the moment to bring other sporting events here. We know we've got the Euros in 2028, which will be amazing, but it would just be wrong if this was only open 20-something times a year.

“We want it to be used for other cultural events, as well, so obviously music events in the bowl but also out on the Plaza.

“We really do see this as an asset for the city as well as a great home for Evertonians.”