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Turley’s research reveals Anfield concerts boost local economy by over £31m

Concerts held at Anfield over the past five years – including Taylor Swift and The Rolling Stones - have helped boost the local economy by over £31m and provided thousands of jobs for local people.

Our Economics team has produced a new report revealing the extent of the financial benefit for the local economy of having world famous stars play in front of hundreds of thousands of people at Anfield.

See the highlights of the research below:

Just last week the club announced the latest worldwide star to play at Anfield, with fan favourite Dua Lipa set to take the stage next summer. Since 2019 a total of seven artists have played 11 concerts at Anfield, with close to half a million people visiting Anfield and £31.3m pumped into the local economy

Half of those visitors came through the Anfield turnstiles this summer alone, with three hugely successful nights of Taylor Swift as part of her Eras worldwide tour and two nights of P!nk’s Summer Carnival 2024.

In previous years Anfield has hosted Bon Jovi, Take That, Elton John and The Eagles, with each concert bringing extra employment opportunities, with a minimum of 1,450 staff required for each one. Some 85% of those employed for Anfield concerts came from the city of Liverpool and more than half (55%) were under 30 years old.

Due to covid restrictions there were no Anfield concerts in either 2020 or 2021, while 2023 was also ruled out as a result of the expansion of the Anfield Road Stand, which has increased the capacity to almost 61,000. Turley helped Liverpool Football Club (LFC) to secure planning permission for this expansion in 2021, providing Planning, Strategic Communications, EIA, Heritage and Townscape, Economics and Sustainability services.

Associate Director, Economics, Andrew Lowe said: 

“Having helped LFC to obtain planning permission to host concerts at Anfield in 2018, and since attended two of the 11 held to date, I’ve personally been delighted to have revisited our earlier research to confirm what we always expected. The economic impact of these events has been huge, with hundreds of thousands of fans drawn to an iconic city to see performances from world-renowned artists. It’s fantastic to see how the concerts have directly created more work for local people and supported many more through the spending of those in attendance.”

Ben Latty, Liverpool Football Club Chief Commercial Officer, said:

“We’re delighted to play our part in boosting the local economy and providing local jobs through the staging of concerts at Anfield. 

“Anfield has attracted the biggest stars on the planet, including three nights of Taylor Swift, and we’re very proud of the successes we’ve had so far. We’ve had incredible feedback from concert goers, promoters and from local residents alike

“We’re excited to recently announce Dua Lipa and we’re working hard to bring more world class acts to Anfield in 2025”

Councillor Harry Doyle, Liverpool City Council’s Member for Culture, said:

“The redevelopment of Anfield stadium has been a huge success for the club – and the city. The fact this iconic venue now doubles up as a world-leading concert venue each summer has been a tremendous boost to our tourism economy. The calibre of the acts the football club has been able to attract regularly puts Liverpool under a fantastic spotlight too, as we all saw when Taylor Swift came to play, and we look forward to hearing more major announcements for next year.”

19 September 2024