Moving up (or down) the English soccer pyramid can have a massive impact on a club.
Promotion equates to increases in viewership, awareness, ticket sales, sponsorship dollars and overall revenue. Relegation, on the other hand, has an adverse effect as all of those integral factors to on- and off-field success suddenly shrink up, making any subsequent ascension attempts significantly harder.
While consecutive promotions from the fifth-tier National League to third-tier League One gives Wrexham AFC more arrows in their quiver to compete with larger clubs in the upper echelons of English soccer, most importantly, it validates the investment—and Hollywood hype—of owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have turned the struggling club from North Wales into a global success story on and off the field.
“One of the main things that being promoted to League One gives you is it gives our story credibility,” Wrexham AFC Director Shaun Harvey said. “There was always the question asked: ‘Who are these two blokes and what are they really doing wanting to own a National League football club?’ There were suggestions it would only last as long as the first two series of the documentary—we’re on series three. Or it would only last as long as they remained interested— well, they’re still here and we’ve been successful.
“Because we’ve made the level of progress we have on the pitch, it’s actually moved the club from being seen as a little bit of a novelty act nearer to the mainstream. And if we’re going to be successful as a business, we need to be in the mainstream rather than viewed as a novelty act, but whilst we’re in the mainstream, we have to do things differently. That’s what the documentary and the marketing platform it creates with the club allows us to do.”
Since Reynolds and McElhenney bought the club in 2020, Wrexham’s story has gone from Welsh lore to the Hollywood spotlight thanks to the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham. Recently renewed for a fourth season at The 2024 Disney Upfront, the series chronicles the trials and tribulations of the oldest soccer club in Wales and the impact it has on the local community.
The spotlight on Wrexham—both club and community—continues to grow exponentially as the Red Dragons recently righted the ship and have found their form on the field. After finishing atop the National League in 2022/23, Wrexham was runner-up in League Two this past campaign as it returns to League One for the first time since 2004/05.
Now two steps away from the Premier League, Harvey said Wrexham AFC will continue to prioritize promoting the local community that has been staunch supporters through all of the lows and is now reaping the benefits of new heights.
“At the end of the day, success on the pitch is what defines a football club,” said Harvey, who helped guide Bradford City AFC from the old Third Division to the Premier League in 1999/2000. “For the club to continue to be successful on the pitch just gives us that enhanced hope and the community just believes and gets behind everything else. It gives everybody a reason to actually want to be there for the club to do well. It’s a really important step getting promotion.
“It doesn’t materially change what the club’s about because the club’s about delivering benefit to the community, but what it certainly does is give you a bigger profile and a more significant base to be able to do it from.”
Each step up the English pyramid equates to a bigger profile and pockets—two significant factors for any club, especially for one like Wrexham AFC.
As of the 2022/23 season, on a per-club basis, each Championship side receives £5.19 million in solidarity money from the Premier League, while each League One team gets £780,000 and League Two sides receive £520,000 apiece. The English Football League (EFL) itself gives each Championship club £3.92 million from its central income with £950,000 going to each League One side and £640,000 to clubs in League Two.
Speaking at SportNXT in Melbourne, Harvey said in late March the club’s social following has grown from 152,000 to 3,981,747 across all platforms, while the Reynolds and McElhenney investment is “now worth 9 million pounds.”
Not only have Wrexham’s consecutive promotions created more opportunities on the business side regardless of ownership, but Reynolds and McElhenney have made Wrexham AFC a highly sought-after partner, especially for American brands and companies.
That’s why the club can call the likes of United Airlines, Aviation American Gin, Ally, HP, Expedia, SToK Cold Brew, Betty Buzz and VistaPrint brand partners. United, the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor as of this season, is taking its partnership one step further beginning June 1 by offering Wrexham AFC-inspired amenity kits and pajamas for United Polaris business class and United Premium Plus travelers.
To further engage with partners like United as well as new supporters, Wrexham AFC is again packing its bags this summer and is heading across the pond to North America. Not only is the men’s team playing preseason matches in the United States and Canada, but the women’s team will be embarking on its first U.S. tour as well.
Deeming it an “obligation” and “desire” to expand the club’s fan base, particularly in North America, Harvey said Wrexham AFC isn’t just bringing its women’s team along for the ride as an afterthought.
“We promote Wrexham as being a football club, not a football team,” Harvey said. “It’s not a men’s team. It’s not a women’s team. It’s not junior teams. It’s not a Powerchair team. They are all teams that play for Wrexham, the club. What everybody’s realized in more recent times is that women’s teams need to have their own identity and it’s not, ‘Oh, and we’ve also got a women’s team.’ Women’s teams need to stand there shoulder to shoulder alongside their male colleagues, as the Powerchair team is alongside those two teams and the junior teams do as well.
“Whether you’re playing for the men’s first team or an Under-9 team, you’re representing the club and you are helping spread the message that Wrexham AFC is open, inclusive and wants to give everybody an opportunity. Why we’re bringing the women’s team over is because they deserve that opportunity to spread their message in exactly the same way as the men’s team is going to spread its message.”
Michael LoRé 