Might be different in Carolina but here, there's no way Newcastle are bigger than Everton. The top 7 clubs do well. From what I've seen here, it goes Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, United, Spurs, Us, City. Then there are a few stragglers like West ham, Newcastle and Villa. If Rooney and Lukaku are playing for us next season, Lukaku will be the far bigger deal.Shirt sales, exposure, popularity boost which typically carries forward. There would be stories every week here about how Rooney is doing at Everton. It's all about money and growing the brand. You know that.
I'd take Rooney on a 2 year free transfer at $150k p/w, probably work out cheaper than signing Valencia for $10m on 70k p/w. He'll be handy if we are fighting on a few different fronts and he'll be good for the kids to learn from.
I can see the media hyping this in August and forgetting about it soon after and Rooney will probably score about 8 in a season, which is fine.