Liverpool's home stadium Anfield, pictured ahead of the Premier League team's 1-1 draw with Newcastle on Sunday 4th November
Liverpool chief commercial officer Billy Hogan has strongly welcomed the club's decision to press on with attempts to refurbish Anfield.
Hogan, who joined Liverpool in June, was speaking to SportsPro along with sales director Olly Dale ahead of the team’s 1-1 home Premier League draw with Newcastle on Sunday 4th November. He argued that at a revamped Anfield there would be "opportunities for partners to participate with the club that frankly wouldn’t exist if you went to a new stadium".
"Just as a fan," he said, "as somebody who supports the club, staying at Anfield would have to be the more attractive opportunity because of what is here – it's 120 years of history."
In mid-October, the club confirmed its intentions to redevelop its historic home rather than pursue plans to build a new stadium in the city. The project is likely to involve an increase in capacity to around 60,000 and an expansion of the Main Stand and the Anfield Road end, though it will be dependent on efforts to purchase land in what is a heavily residential area. More detailed plans will not be confirmed until those issues have been resolved, although Liverpool City Council has already secured a UK£25 million grant to regenerate the wider area.
"The energy and the passion and what you see here on a matchday is in my experience unlike any in sport."
Hogan compared the decision to stay at Anfield with Fenway Sports Group owners John Henry and Tom Werner's decision to redevelop rather than replace the Boston Red Sox home of Fenway Park, saying that in both cases "it took time to really analyse the issue and look at the benefits on both side of the ledger in terms of how you make that work."
The American was managing director of Fenway Sports Management before moving to Liverpool and was part of the acquisition team that initially explored the benefits of a takeover of the club. He described his first matchday trip to Anfield as "sort of a life-changing experience" and believes keeping the team there represents a "great opportunity" for its sponsors.
"I think when you look at the development of the commercial side," he said, "particularly on the partnerships side, as that part of the business has grown what you do see is that there are many, many long-term partnerships that have been in place. It even goes back to a little bit of what we talked about earlier with that sense of community and the partners that we have at Liverpool, even from a corporate perspective, are sort of part of that family, part of helping the club move forward.
"I think that there's a great story to be told with a refurbished Anfield and I think that the energy and the passion and what you see here on a matchday is in my experience unlike any in sport. So hopefully we get those last few issues sorted out and staying here will be great long-term for the club and great from our perspective on the commercial side as well."
A full interview with Liverpool chief commercial officer Billy Hogan and sales director Olly Dale will appear in the December 2012/January 2013 edition of SportsPro. Click here to subscribe. Further extracts from the interview will appear throughout next week on www.sportspromedia.com
