Wrexham’s Hollywood engine powers Premier League-sized revenues

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This week we’re lifting the lid on the remarkable business story off the pitch over at AFC Wrexham. Plus we look at the US Open’s attempt to drum up interest in a new take on mixed doubles. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Wrexham’s Premier League commercial clout

AFC Wrexham’s return to English football’s second tier has had a bumpy start. The team owned by two Hollywood actors has lost both its opening games, but will be hoping for better when hosting troubled Sheffield Wednesday this afternoon.

Yet the club is continuing to prosper off the pitch. Last season it sold almost 100,000 kits — with around half going to its vast international fan base. Considering the town of Wrexham has a population of only 45,000, those figures are quite incredible.

New distribution deals with two US retail chains have raised hopes of another big jump this year, while licensing deals mean that Wrexham will soon be making money from merchandise produced and sold by somebody else.

The club’s roster of sponsors is also impressive for a team that was playing non-league football just three years ago. Meta Quest, United Airlines and TikTok are the kind of global commercial partners that many Premier League clubs will be looking at enviously.

The key to Wrexham’s commercial success is having famous owners. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have turned the club into a powerful content factory and media platform. The documentary Welcome to Wrexham — now in its fourth season — attracts around 5mn viewers per episode.

Since the takeover in 2021, the club’s social media following across different platforms has risen from 45,000 to about 4.5mn. Add that to the number of people following the two actor-owners and you’re looking at a figure in the same ballpark as Arsenal.

All this explains why Wrexham executives are expecting commercial revenue this season to rival those of a mid-table Premier League club. In practice that means somewhere between £20mn-£30mn.

It’s actually not that much of a lift. Accounts from 2023/24 showed Wrexham was already bringing in more than £17mn from retail and sponsorship when it was playing in the fourth tier.

Total revenue that year more than doubled to £27.6mn. This season that figure is likely to be around £50mn. The club has lost money every year since the takeover.

Michael Williamson, chief executive, says the club’s growth forecasts are cautious, and admits that nobody really knows exactly what this season will bring because merchandise distribution has been such a bottleneck in the past.

This season, Wrexham is aiming to reach the promised land of the Premier League, and has been among the top spenders in the division.

The team may well fall short — the Championship is one of the most exciting, unpredictable and competitive leagues in football. But Wrexham’s commercial engine will give it the financial edge over far bigger and more established clubs so long as that international fan base keeps tuning in.

Lots of other investors are looking to “do a Wrexham” — see Tom Brady’s link-up with Birmingham City or Snoop Dogg’s stake purchase at Swansea. But that looks a lot easier said than done.

Can the US Open’s mixed doubles spectacle be replicated? 

Since Saudi-backed LIV shook up golf, the world of tennis has wondered whether it was due for a similar outside disruption. But the US Open’s revamped mixed doubles competition showed this week that traditional sports institutions can deliver a jolt of their own.

The United States Tennis Association’s controversial two-day format — with 16 teams competing for a $1mn prize — was meant to entice the sport’s biggest names to play mixed doubles, which has been perennially outshined by the singles format.

After dispatching some private jets, the USTA succeeded. But the participation of stars including Carlos Alcaraz, Emma Raducanu, Iga Świątek and Novak Djokovic in the tournament meant that doubles specialists duos were largely excluded. 

With one exception: the defending US Open mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the experienced Italian duo defeated 2025 Wimbledon winner Iga Świątek and her partner Casper Ruud in Wednesday night’s final.  

A day earlier, Vavassori said it was “nice for mixed doubles to be seen on a big stage”. But the pair stressed that they were playing for their peers who couldn’t participate. “I think it’s important to show also that doubles players are great players,” he added.

Doubles players said the two-day tournament devalued a Grand Slam title. It took place during the US Open’s “Fan Week” to allow singles players time to rest before the main draw. Underscoring the point, British singles number one Jack Draper, who was partnered with the American Jessica Pegula, called the format an “exhibition” following their quarterfinal victory.

The USTA argued the previous format was falling short. “We’ve always believed that mixed doubles is undervalued in our sport and has the potential to engage and captivate many more fans,” said US Open tournament director Stacey Allaster.

While much of the action at Fan Week is free, the US Open sold tickets for matches in the 24,000 seat Arthur Ashe stadium, and the tournament was broadcast on ESPN’s networks. The USTA said 78,000 fans were on-site during the two-day competition. And that’s all before the main draw, which begins tomorrow.

Wednesday evening’s semi-finals had the feel of an important event. US Open regulars Anna Wintour and tennis legend Billie Jean King were part of the sold-out crowd. As the night wore on — as it tends to do in Queens — fans thinned out. Still, those who stayed witnessed Errani and Vavassori win a thrilling final that ended in a 10-point tiebreak after the teams split the first two sets.

The success of the USTA’s reimagined mixed doubles tournament raises the question of whether other Grand Slams will adopt the format. As the US and Australian Opens have grown bigger and bigger, Roland Garros and Wimbledon are falling behind.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs Wimbledon, plans to expand its grounds to add dozens of extra courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on nearby land. The oldest Grand Slam tournament can accommodate just over 500,000 visitors during the two-week tournament, far fewer than both the Australian and US Open.

Meanwhile the US Open has announced player prize money will rise to $85mn this year, the richest tournament in history. It could be the only Grand Slam with the financial heft to pull off such a spectacle. 

After hoisting the trophy, Vavassori called for the inclusion of more doubles players in the future. But he saw an upside as well: “To see a stadium fully packed for mixed doubles is something that we didn’t expect honestly. We have to give credit to the tournament to create something that was really worth it.”

Highlights

• Manchester United started the Premier League season with a 0-1 loss at home to Arsenal. The English football club’s struggles on the pitch are limiting commercial revenue growth.

• Saudi Arabia’s vision for the 2029 Asian Winter Games is at risk because it is struggling to deliver its desert-defying ski resort. Saudi officials have discussed approaching South Korea or China to step in and instead hold the event in the Gulf state four years later.

• Billionaire Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai is backing a pan-Asian college league styled on the US “March Madness” tournament. The owner of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team hopes to build on enthusiasm for live events in China with the amateur Asian University Basketball League.

Final Whistle

Are influencers taking over football? Streamer Mark Goldbridge has made his name by watching Manchester United matches in front of a camera for his followers.

His frustrated reactions to United’s travails go viral. Now the German Bundesliga has turned to Goldbridge, the online alias of Brent Di Cesare, to screen Friday games in the UK, starting with last night’s match between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig.

That’s Football, Goldbridge’s YouTube channel, has more than 1.4mn subscribers and 490mn views. The United Stand, his Man United channel, has more than 2.1mn subs and over 1.6bn views.

Fans follow football in new ways. Can traditional broadcast keep up?

Watch here.