Wrexham

TLDR: You are in a sleepy Welsh town called Wrexham. They have a failing football club until it is bought by two hollywood stars. 

These football stars help the town belive in themseleves again and tell the world their underdog story. We expalin why it's genius and how it's changed sport for the long run.

In Wales exists a small town called Wrexham. Wrexham is one of the cities that most Brits have never heard of. A forgotten industrial centre in Wales that is the home to a proud and mighty population of 45,000 people. 

We don’t usually write about sleepy UK towns on Change Makers, but this one is different. It has Wrexham Athletic Football Club which has transcended football and is the topic of today’s newsletter.

I want to answer two questions:

1. Why are Wrexham AFC change makers? 

2. What does this mean for sport more broadly?

But before that, let me set some context.

There are 5 major national football/soccer leagues in the UK. The Premier League, The Championship, League 1, League 2 and the National League (bottom).

This story starts with Wrexham AFC at the bottom of the National League after years of poor investment and pretty hopeless results. 

Why are Wrexham Change Makers?

In 2021, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought the team for $2.5 million. Ok, hold up. Why would two Hollywood stars take an interest in the sports team of a sleepy Welsh town few people have ever heard of? 

Stories matter

What are people in Hollywood good at? Telling stories. Why does this matter? Stories are why people watch sports. 

As humans, we think in narratives and are gripped by stories. For thousands of years, before writing, this is how we passed information from generation to generation.

Stories are all around us, from the visions of great entrepreneurs to the films we adore, the books we read, and the anecdotes we tell ourselves.

This video will give you a sense of how great storytellers brought eyeballs to Wrexham:

Competitive sports are story factories and history is littered with tales of incredible sporting moments. You will have witnessed them.

One such moment was in 1980 when the USA played the Soviet Union in ice hockey. Team USA was written off, and quite rightly. This was not a sport that they had historically competed well at and their team was a bunch of rag-tag college kids from across the country.

Conversely, the Soviets were ready, having won 5 of the last 6 gold medals and they were led by Viktor Tikhonov (Victory is his name) who assembled professional hockey players that would bring their nation the 6th gold medal.

This was more than just an ice hockey game. These two superpowers were competing on every stage. The cold war was still brewing and it would be a national humiliation for whoever lost. The US was set to almost certainly lose - they did 2 weeks earlier in an exhibition match played against the Soviets in Madison Square Garden.

In the final 10 minutes of the game, the US captain scored to take the US 4-3 up. The final 10 minutes are chaos. Blocking Russian attempts on goal, keeping the puck away from the Soviet team, wall slams everywhere, fights almost breaking out. 30 seconds to go and the US steals the puck. Pass, pass, pass, pass. Buzzer sounds.

Commentators, the crowd, the team erupts. Erupt in a way that happens once a decade. Erupt in a way that could be heard across the nation.  The US had won and the game would be deemed ‘The Miracle on Ice.’

This is an unbelievable story, one that sounds fake and couldn’t be written but it happened. This is what Reynold and Macalhenny saw. The ability to tell an incredible story.

Rob says it himself:

Wrexham was a town no one had heard of but what happens if they show the world what they are capable of? The culture, the people, the players. The TV show Welcome to Wrexham did just this garnishing millions of viewers and winning an Emmy. 

Telling a great story

Wrexham’s story may have gone nowhere if they didn’t have two very special traits:

1. They were the underdogs

2. They believed in themselves

Reynolds and Macelhenny knew that people love an underdog story and that this could empower the players, similar to that of “The Miracle on Ice”.

One of the powerful parts of being the underdog is the removal of pressure. When no one thinks you can win, you must show up and prove people wrong. It puts a chip on your shoulder and as the saying goes “Chips on shoulders leads to chips in pockets”.

Wrexham are the ultimate underdogs. This tiny club in a country most people couldn’t point to on a map. But as an underdog, you need to believe you can win.

There are 4 major golf tournaments a year. Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship, his 14th major, in 2008. After that win, he suffered a very public affair and divorce. His professional golf game took a massive hit and in 2015 he suffered a back injury. He went through 4 separate back surgeries. 

It looked like his professional career was over. 

But he fought back and at the age of 43, in one of the most competitive periods in golf, won the 2019 Masters. 

Tiger Woods believed in himself. What’s powerful about belief and hope is it’s infectious. It infects the viewer with their sense of self-belief. “If they can do it why can’t I?”.

Instead of just broadcasting Wrexham games on ESPN or Sky, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney decided to tell a great story.

And Wrexham was the perfect story. The underdogs who found hope again would go on to conquer football.

How has this changed sport?

Wrexham AFC in the last two years has ascended two Leagues and is now in League 1. 

They have accumulated over 1.5 million followers on social media and have the highest game attendance in 20 years. They have sold 24,000 team shirts this season which is around $1.3 million dollars of sales. 

Wrexham has made it clear that there are hidden gems everywhere in sports. Underperforming people, teams, and competitions where their stories are ready to be told. 

We are going to see a collision of sports with creators and celebrities. Getting the world's best storytellers to broadcast these competitions and competitors to the world is a brilliant idea.

The financial success of the sports is tied to eyeballs. Celebrities and creators have an opportunity to own underdogs and underperforming sports teams, bring them views, more money, and hopefully as a result more success.

Netflix shows like Welcome to Wrexham, Drive to Survive, and Full Swing are just the beginning of a new wave of content around the sport.

Not only are these great stories but great business opportunities; one that Wrexham and their celebrity owners pioneered. 

Some interesting resources:

[Watch] - Ryan and Rob’s reaction to last seasons promotion
[Watch] - Ryan and Rob on the Late Night Show talking about Wrexham