Saturday’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace hoisted Everton up to 14th in the Premier League table, a point above Manchester United. It was the fourth win in six league matches under the returning David Moyes.

The points haul over the past month has seen the Toffees pull well away from the bottom three and a relegation dogfight that they had looked destined to be part of under former boss Sean Dyche, with the gap now 13 points between them and 17th-placed Ipswich Town.

Barring a catastrophic set of results and total capitulation from Everton over the course of the next 13 games, the new 52,888–seater stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will be playing host to the Toffees as a Premier League side for its debut campaign in 2025/26.

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That was always the plan, but the tumult at the club brought about by its off-field problems of the past few seasons, where debt piled high and an ongoing takeover saga that saw the club almost sold to a private equity firm that has since gone bust, meant that the plan had seemed on very shaky ground as points deductions and a lack of investment in the team due to financial constraints led near misses when it came to dropping into the Championship.

Mathematically, of course, the club aren’t safe right now, but the odds of such a thing happening will be sufficiently low enough in the eyes of would-be commercial partners to feel at ease about just how much exposure they would be getting.

The decision of new owners The Friedkin Group to part with Dyche and bring back Moyes was driven by the need to preserve the ultra-valuable status as a Premier League side. Being a Premier League side was part of the investment thesis of TFG, and while the risk of relegation was sufficient enough for them to know they may have to deal with it, the long-term plan to turn the club around will be achieved far quicker with survival.

Not only would survival be of enormous financial benefit to Everton through the preservation of huge broadcast rights that come with Premier League membership, which stood at £132.2million for 2023/24, but also for the ability to get a better deal when selling their commercial inventory for the new stadium, including stadium naming rights.

Commercial partners want exposure, and the Premier League delivers that like no other domestic football league in the world, providing a global audience thanks to its touch points with all corners of the world.

Everton now have time. They have the ability to go to market with greater confidence when speaking to potential commercial partners, and that confidence will be reflected in commercial partners who will be more willing to commit earlier, rather than the problem the club may have faced in terms of some waiting to see what league the Toffees would be playing in next season as the potential value of any deal would have been significantly impacted.

Stadium naming rights is the biggest piece of sponsorship inventory they have to sell, and the price of such a deal would be impacted if the club were to be a Championship side. The first deal for stadium naming rights is always the most valuable as it has potential legacy value as fans and the public become used to association with a sponsor from the off. That means that being able to ask for the best possible price comes with being a Premier League side.

It’s not done and dusted yet, but from a commercial perspective it will be aiding Everton’s efforts earlier that it might have otherwise have done.