Wrexham have recently been crowned National League champions, and research conducted by investment bank Saxo has revealed that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's initial £2 million purchase of the Welsh side has tripled in value after reaching League Two.
The Hollywood actors purchased Wrexham in November 2020, and have since raised the club's profile through sponsorship deals with TikTok, Expedia, Aviation American Gin, Vistaprint and its own Disney+ docuseries, called Welcome to Wrexham.
It is here where Saxo Bank's head of marketing, Anaam Raza, highlights the true monetary success lies for the co-owners.
“After debuting on FX in the States in August 2022, Welcome to Wrexham received a 97% audience score and was immediately signed for a second season," Raza said. "The club would have made roughly £321,000 per hour of content for the eight-part series which equates to around £2.57 million.
“Following promotion, Wrexham’s social media accounts have been supercharged. Since the takeover, their Twitter following has grown by 1,040%, their Instagram following has increased by 3,111% and they have gone from no followers on TikTok to 1.2 million.
“The number of fans buying season tickets has nearly tripled. However, the club’s global reach is perhaps the most impressive success; ESPN revealed their FA Cup second round viewing figures increased by 858% as a direct result of showcasing Wrexham - meaning around 100 million households will have watched the Red Dragons this season."
Saxo Bank also believes Reynolds and McElhenney could sanction a sale of Wrexham worth over £8 million - a 300 per cent increase on their initial investment based on the trajectory and worldwide notoriety of the club
Earning approximately £1 million prize money alone from winning the National League, Wrexham have since announced pre-season fixtures in the United States against Los Angeles Galaxy, Chelsea and Manchester United.
The Racecourse Ground's main stand - The Kop - is expected to be expanded in the coming years, too. While it will cost over £80 million, 50 per cent of the project will be financed by public funding and the new 5,500 capacity stand will offer even greater revenue streams for Wrexham to take advantage of.
Raza continued: “If we were talking about the valuation of a ‘normal company’, you would do a discounted cash-flow analysis, where you estimate future cash flows and discount the cost of capital.
“But most football clubs are not run like normal companies - their revenues are inconsistent and they make losses. It doesn’t reflect the intrinsic quality of clubs as community assets and Wrexham AFC’s growing commercial revenue mean the club is nowhere near the ceiling of their potential just yet.”
