Wrexham are among the most popular soccer teams in America, a state of affairs that would have been simply unthinkable pre-takeover.
When Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the Welsh club in 2021, they were in the fifth tier of English football and were valued at around $2m.
Fast forward five years and four promotions later and Reynolds and McElhenney retain a majority of the now-Championship club’s equity but have brought on fresh investment at a valuation of around $450m.
That makes them among the most valuable clubs outside the Premier League. In the second tier, perhaps only recently-relegated West Ham United, who play at a 60,000-seat stadium and are one of England’s most historic clubs, could lay claim to a markedly higher appraisal.
After narrowly missing out on a playoff spot last season, Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson is gearing up for another promotion push in 2026-27 with one of the division’s biggest transfer and wage budgets, as well as the promise of swelling revenue streams through further commercial growth and a stadium expansion.
They are a one-off in the history of the EFL and, having successively courted a massive fanbase in the US, their financial ceiling is sky-high, especially under a new set of football spending rules which tie expenditure to revenue more tightly than the previous Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) regime.
And the latest news on Planet Wrexham is that they could form an ownership link with one of the world’s most famous sports brands.
Wrexham co-owners Apollo could take stake in New York Yankees
In December last year, Wrexham owners Reynolds, Mac and the Allyn family secured investment from the sports division of one of the world’s biggest private equity houses: Apollo.
Apollo manage almost $1 trillion in assets and is increasingly making investments in sports.
As well as a circa 10 per cent stake in Wrexham, they also own a majority shareholding in Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and have given huge credit lines to the likes of Chelsea ownership group BlueCo, fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest and the embattled multi-club company Eagle.
Now, they are reportedly in talks with Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees about providing $2-3bn in finance.
Most of the $2-3bn would, according to Bloomberg, come in the form of debt. But an equity stake in the Yankees is being discussed too.
The Yankees are probably the most famous and valuable franchise in MLB. Most analysis gives them an enterprise value of $7-8bn.
And while theirs would likely be a passive investment in the 27-time World Series champions, it would be useful for Wrexham to have them in their orbit.
There would surely be some scope for commercial collaboration.
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