Wrexham FC’s Earnings Skyrocket: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Club Rakes in Shocking Profits

Since purchasing a stake in Welsh soccer club Wrexham A.F.C. in 2020, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have grown the team’s influence and global name recognition exponentially. That, in turn, has led to a purported boom in revenue for the club.
Charlie Methven, the co-owner of London-based Charlton Athletic F.C., spoke to the Where’s the Money Gone? podcast about Reynolds and McElhenney’s work in raising Wrexham’s profile in the UK and abroad. Charlton Athletic, like Wrexham, plays in the English Football League’s League One division.
In League One, Wrexham stands as a shining example of one of those football brands that are pulling in more money than competitors. It shouldn’t come as a surprise given Reynolds and McElhenney’s proximity to the team.

“[Wrexham] started to build through the association with Ryan Reynolds, who’s a genuine global star, no doubt about that,” Methven said. “Through the predictability of Welcome to Wrexham as a series appearing on major streaming platform Disney+, [they’re] starting to say, ‘Well, we’re now attracting a level of eyeballs that is more similar to a Premier League club. And we’re now able to attract sponsors who are really looking to aim at that global audience. And therefore, rather than having the traditional local business who wants to try and sell some goods to people who are coming to the stadium, now we’re actually looking to attract businesses who are looking to sell goods to a big American audience.'”

Methven went on to mention some of Wrexham’s biggest financial boosters. United Airlines is the club’s main shirt sponsor, and Wrexham is unique in that not many clubs have an energy drink sponsorship but they do with Gatorade.
“Rather than having the traditional local business who wants to try and sell some goods to people who are coming to the stadium, they’re looking to attract businesses who are looking to sell goods to a big American audience,” he said. “We’re not talking about mom-and-pop shops here. We’re talking about major global companies who are putting their money into Wrexham because they think that is better value than the kind of sums that would be required to sponsor in the Premier League.”

As a result, Wrexham is believed to be pulling in a boatload of sponsorship cash in comparison to other teams in League One.
“If you look at commercial revenues of a normal League One club of a decent size like Charlton, Huddersfield [Town A.F.C.], or Bolton [Wanderers F.C.], you might be looking at commercial revenues of £2 million ($2.5 million) to £2.5 million ($3.2 million) a year. In Wrexham’s case, you’re going to be looking at four to five times that level of commercial sponsorship,” he said.

Sponsorships are just one way Wrexham has been able to up its revenue in recent years. According to Wales Online, investment bank Saxo estimates that the popular Welcome to Wrexham docuseries, which chronicles Reynolds and McElhenney’s trials and tribulations as team co-owners, earned the club roughly £2.5 million ($3.2 million) in its first season.
Season 4 of Welcome to Wrexham is expected to arrive next spring.