Earlier this year Everton made the call to activate a clause in their agreement with Cazoo to end the partnership.
The online car retailer had only been front of shirt sponsor since the summer of 2020 after signing an initial two-year deal worth around £10m per year, but as per a clause in the contract that allowed either side to walk away and not extend the contract, Everton took that option.
Everton were aiming to raise commercial revenues, and with Cazoo looking at cutting some of its marketing costs to try and save around £200m per year, getting an increase on the deal to the kind of value that the Toffees wanted was never going to be easy and going to market in search of a new partner was deemed the sensible choice.
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Everton gained a significant uplift with their club-record multi-year deal with online casino Stake.com, handing them a timely commercial boost as they continue to find ways to raise revenues and put clear daylight between themselves and the profit and sustainability headaches that they have endured in recent times.
The Stake.com deal sees the Toffees realise more value in their most prominent commercial partnership and has been followed by a sleeve sponsorship deal with BOXT and official partnerships signed with the likes of Christopher Ward Watches and Fancurve.
Cazoo came onto the sports sponsorship scene in a big way from 2020 onwards as they inked a number of deals in football with the Toffees, Aston Villa, Marseille, Lille, Valencia and Bologna, while sponsorship for World Snooker and golf's European Tour.
But in June the company announced that they were implementing a business realignment plan in a bid to stem losses caused by the disruption of the online car marketplace, to save £200m between June 2022 and the end of 2023 to position them for profitable growth in the UK. The cost saving has put 750 jobs at risk and other avenues such as reducing capital expenditure will be looked at.
Having launched in the UK in 2018, Cazoo have branched out into mainland Europe since, although sales in Europe have accounted for less than 10 per cent of unit sales and revenue in quarter two, according to chief executive Alex Chesterman, via SportPro Media.
The existing sponsorship deals that are in place are expected to remain unaffected.
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