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There are 580 million reasons why Billy Hogan is excited about the future for Liverpool FC.

The Reds’ chief commercial officer has recently relocated from Boston to the UK to lead the club’s new London office.

Hogan’s mission is to build on the success his department has enjoyed in 2014 which has seen nine lucrative new sponsorship deals signed with the likes of Garuda Indonesia, Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts and Vauxhall.

“Our research tells us we’ve got 580 million fans globally,” Hogan told the ECHO.

“That size of fanbase means there’s a tremendous amount of opportunities out there for the business.

“The feeling within the club is that absolutely we’re heading in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Since his appointment in May 2012, Hogan’s time has been divided between Merseyside and Fenway Sports Group’s headquarters in Boston.

However, Liverpool’s owners have now decided to have him based permanently in London in order to strengthen ties with current commercial partners and also to attract more new deals.

“It’s an important step forward for the club and for the commercial department,” said Hogan, who has moved to the capital with his wife and four children.

“It makes perfect sense for the club to have an office in London. We’ve seen every summer on the pre-season tours what a global club Liverpool Football Club is.

“We’re targeting early November for the offices to actually open. A handful of staff are in London already and more will be moving down from our Liverpool partnerships team.

“Having an office in one of the world’s largest financial centres will certainly help us in the next stage of our growth. It will allow our team here to spend time with existing partners when they are in London for events as well as work to bring in new partnerships.”

Key to Hogan’s new role is the part he will play in the redevelopment of Anfield.

Liverpool City Council last month unanimously approved the club’s application to rebuild the Main Stand and Anfield Road End, which will eventually boost the stadium’s capacity to around 59,000.

With the six-week consultation period, when potential legal challenges to the council’s decision can be submitted, still ongoing, Liverpool don’t yet have “certainty” that they can proceed.

But barring any late hitches, building work on the new £75million Main Stand will begin early next year.

The project offers huge opportunities for Hogan and his team. Negotiating a naming rights deal for the stand would pay a significant chunk of the construction costs.

“The new Main Stand is going to be a big focus for all of us,” Hogan said,

“The process is still ongoing. We’re getting closer to certainty but we’re not there yet.

“When that certainty arrives from a commercial standpoint we’ll be ready to get to work on that.

“We wouldn’t consider selling naming rights for the stadium as a whole but in terms of the name of the Main Stand that’s something we will look at.

“We’ll be looking to bring in a number of new partners. A naming partnership for the stand would make sense.”

Hogan has been here before having worked closely on the upgrade of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

Originally from Cleveland in Ohio, he joined Fenway Sports Management, the global sponsorship sales arm of FSG, back in 2004.

Among the bumper commercial deals he secured for the Red Sox was one with CVS Pharmacy, who sponsor the ballpark’s high left field wall, the Green Monster.

“The fact that we’ve been through this process at Fenway Park means we’ve hopefully got that experience to take advantage of,” Hogan said.

“If you go back four years to the day when FSG acquired the club this was one of their major issues – where the long-term home for Liverpool would be. Would it be a new stadium in Stanley Park or a redeveloped Anfield?

“A lot of people looked at what FSG did with Fenway Park. They have that experience of redeveloping a famous old sports stadium.

“That process was completed very successfully over the past 10 years. There were great commercial opportunities as Fenway Park was improved and that will be the same with Liverpool.”

The middle-tier of the new Main Stand, which is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2016/17 season, will be dominated by hospitality boxes and suites.

“We’ve had a tremendously successful hospitality programme over the past few years but the reality is that we’re currently working in an environment where demand far outstrips supply,” Hogan said.

“We’ve got an international fanbase and supporters come from across the world because they want to visit Anfield. We saw that passion this summer during the tour of USA, which was replicated in the Far East and in Australia the previous year.

“There’s an increase not only in the number of hospitality seats but also in general admission seats. That’s very important as we need both those things.”

Commercial revenues are more important than ever as UEFA continue to implement their Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

Last month the governing body announced that Liverpool were one of seven European clubs they would investigate over possible breaches.

Rules state that all clubs competing in Europe must limit losses to £35.4m over two seasons. The Reds’ accounts showed a loss of £49.8m in 2012/13 and £41m for the 10 months prior to that.

However, the reason why Anfield officials are relaxed about UEFA’s findings is that those figures will be offset by the big commercial deals they have signed over the past 18 months.

Money spent on infrastructure is also taken into consideration and the 2011/12 accounts showed that stadium costs amounted to £49million, which was largely down to scrapping the doomed plans of previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Liverpool’s commercial revenues jumped from £63.9m in 2011/12 to £97.7m in 2012/13 and that figure will have climbed sharply again when the club’s next set of accounts are published next year.

“FSG have always been very supportive of FFP and that means only spending what you can generate,” Hogan said.

“We’re focused on operating the business in a responsible way. That’s been the mantra for FSG to get a winning team on the field. We want it to be sustainable.

“Developing significant revenues from our commercial business is vital to ensuring the club is successful. I wake up every morning focused on generating revenues so that this club can continue to advance.

“Not only have we brought on board nine new partners so far this year, we’ve also had three significant renewals. That speaks volumes about how we want to operate. We see ourselves as a family club and we want our partners to be part of that family.

“Success on the field certainly helps but none of the deals we’ve done this year are on the back of the team doing so well last season. Deals can take 12 to 18 months to come together.

“You can’t sell someone something based on what happened on the pitch last weekend. It says much about the size and strength of our club that businesses want to be associated with Liverpool FC.

“When you consider where we were four years ago, on the brink of administration, where we are now is testament to the hard work of everyone who has contributed to that progress.

“The club has advanced so far both on and off the field, and now we’re able to talk about how strong the business is.”

EXPANSION PLANS

Liverpool FC are set to expand their network of club stores around the world.

The Reds recently opened an official merchandise shop in Malaysia and more are planned in Thailand and Indonesia.

“We’re recently opened stores in Kuala Lumpur and Dublin, and our retail and merchandise team have done a terrific job,” said chief commercial officer Billy Hogan.

“There’s a strategy with our approach to it and we’ll be looking to open more Liverpool shops around the world in areas where we know there is huge interest in the club.”

LFC COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

2012: Signed a six-year kit deal with US sportswear company Warrior worth a guaranteed £25million per year.

2013: Standard Chartered extended their shirt sponsorship deal for a further two years to run until the end of the 2015/16 season. It’s worth in excess of £20million per year.

2014: New global partners: Dunkin’ Brands, Garuda Indonesia, Subway

New regional partners: Xolo – India, Instaforex, Barbados Tourism Authority, Come On, PruHealth Vitality, Vauxhall

Partner renewals: MBNA, 188 BET, Courts

BILLY HOGAN FACTFILE

2004: Joined Fenway Sports Management, the global sponsorship sales arm of Fenway Sports Group, in 2004 after two years as director of sponsorship sales at ANC Sports. Prior to that he was director of film distribution at Giant Screen Films.

2004: As managing director of FSM he had responsibility for the company’s day-to-day business operations and strategic growth.

2004: He was tasked with securing high-level sponsorships for the Boston Red Sox and also assisting in the development of clients such as basketball star LeBron James, Boston College Athletics, and PGA Tour event the Deutsche Bank Championship.

2005: In his first year with FSM he helped triple sponsorship sales for Boston College Athletics, landed a major deal with CVS Pharmacy at Fenway Park and secured a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Waste Management.

2010: Directed the successful ‘Football at Fenway’ initiative which led to the sport being played at the ballpark when Celtic faced Sporting Lisbon in 2010. Liverpool have since played there twice.

2010: Also brought the National Hockey League’s ‘Winter Classic’ to Fenway Park.

2012: Played a key role in establishing the Warrior kit deal for Liverpool prior to being appointed as the Reds’ chief commercial officer in 2012.

now: He has overall responsibility for the Reds’ sponsorship, ticketing and hospitality sales, retail and merchandise, tours and friendlies as well as the club’s soccer schools.