No English football team has gone up three levels of the English football pyramid in three consecutive years – until now. Celebrity darling Wrexham’s promotion into the Championship (the second division of English football behind the Premier League) is a remarkable feat powered by an aggressive approach to coaching, staffing and incredibly unique marketing. However, what happens now?
As the Athletic points out, the second tier of English football is a much greater challenge for Wrexham, where they face having the third smallest stadium and will come up against teams that have played in Premier League like recently relegated Ipswich and Leicester. While Wrexham have invested in new facilities (players currently ride between locations to practice and shower) and greater stadium capacity (due in 2026), can their unique style continue to succeed?
Wrexham’s business model of scaling through sponsorship and marketing looks to level up further with a higher league, and the addition of new billionaire minority investors begins to give them tools to start competing more traditionally with other teams. In addition, the star power of its owners, in Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, drive a talent approach that persuades higher tier talent to drop down to them, but what does consumer interest say about the team?
Airgo ‘Share of Search’ tracking for Wrexham against football teams in the UK and US paints an interesting picture. After acquisition in 2021 and the launch of the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ TV show a slow shift has occurred. First, UK search for Wrexham stayed at lower levels until on the field events (such as 2022’s FA Trophy loss) caused specific spikes. Then, popularity of the show increased US search share beyond UK levels in 2023, starting with the premiere of Season 2 of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’. Finally, throughout 2023 and 2024, promotions have caused both US and UK search to become more reactive to on the field accomplishment. Wrexham has gone from lower league team, to media property to a well known team with a media property.
The shift from UK to US dominance of search share is interesting, as it mirrors many other well known teams. Amongst the top Premier League teams, share internationally (in this case the US) is higher than domestic search share, as international appeal isn’t hemmed in by geographic allegiances as UK fandom may be. Wrexham’s search share and proportions are much more in line with a top tier team, implying that their support may exceed even what’s expected for a championship side.
If the team continues on this trajectory, using a flywheel of on the field success and media properties, it looks to continue growing beyond its stature. While this data doesn’t predict whether it can achieve a historic and unlikely fourth straight promotion, given their track record I wouldn’t bet against them.
