‘Nobody has what they have’ - Wrexham are on the brink of an improbable promotion, and American support has never been more significant

Defining the scale of Wrexham fandom is difficult. The documentary has won 10 Emmy awards, but viewership alone does not prove how deeply people care about the club. What is clearer is that Wrexham are drawing more American eyes toward a once little-known corner of the English pyramid.

The available data points suggest momentum, even if not quite a cultural takeover. Wrexham played high-profile friendlies in the U.S. in 2023 and 2024, including a 2023 exhibition win over a much-changed Manchester United side in San Diego. Those matches featured a noticeable Wrexham presence.

The club told The Athletic that around 40 percent of the 51,000 fans at its 2023 friendly against Chelsea were there to support the then-National League side. According to Wrexham’s 2023-24 accounts, more than half of their annual turnover came from the United States. And while the club has not made money directly from the documentary, it has undoubtedly helped fuel lucrative American sponsorships, including deals with United Airlines and SToK Cold Brew.

They will play Liverpool at Yankee Stadium this summer, a fixture that comes just over a week after the World Cup final - also held in the New York area.

“With the signing of a multi-year agreement with Macron for global distribution of our merchandise and the filming of season five of Welcome to Wrexham ongoing, interest and engagement of our US fans remain at an all-time high. At a global level, our recent summer tour to Australia and New Zealand saw over 100,000 fans attend the three matches played against local teams, demonstrating the continued worldwide appeal of both the Club and the Wrexham brand,” Rob Faulkner, Chief Business and Communications Officer, said in a statement.

Still, Wrexham’s exact place in the American soccer market is hard to define. They are not the Premier League, the Champions League, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr - and they likely never will be. Their value is different. For many American fans, Wrexham have become a gateway into the rhythms, quirks and romance of European football.

This thing might be a shining example of promotion-relegation - the one thing that American soccer has never quite embraced. Soccer media, at large, is sure to benefit.

“If anything, if it brings interest into football and into English football, then it's brilliant,” Paramount+ analyst Geoff Shreeves said.

Others in the media space have echoed his sentiment.

“There’s a great interest. I think, because it's never been done before. It's a unique project, and they've done it very well. They've shown the community what the football club means to the community, how they've built the club, and how they've built different perspectives,” CBS Sports analyst and long-time Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker said.

Paramount+ does not release its viewership data. But a spokesperson from the broadcaster highlighted the fact that the network ‘chose’ to broadcast every single game last season - and did the same this year.

Football clubs themselves, too, are hoping to capitalize on the impact of the club’s success. One particularly interesting case study is that of Rhode Island FC. The club is owned by Brett Johnson, who is also a shareholder at Ipswich - a Championship rival. For the American, club allegiances can be cast aside.

“It's a case study in a lot of things, but not the least of which is the incomparable beauty of promotion and relegation,” Brett Johnson, owner of USL Championship’s Rhode Island FC, told GOAL.

In fact, he has found that the interest in the show has helped RIFC, which made a run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2025, grow in popularity.

“If I've got fans of Wrexham now in Rhode Island who love to watch Wrexham, by extension, at some point, they're going to start to gravitate to the local product, meaning they're going to go to a Rhode Island game and get hooked on that as well,” Johnson said.

Indeed, for him, points of origin are largely irrelevant - as long as his stadium is full on a weekend.

“Whatever the gateway drug is to get you hooked on the sport I'm a fan of, I'm an advocate of. What those two guys have done, it's not a fluke,” Johnson said.

Even those with a more European background in USL see the positives for them. English-born Orange County SC President Dan Rutstein, a long-time advocate for promotion and relegation in the USL, admitted that the side’s continued success is only a good thing as his team continues to grow.

“Frankly, whatever it takes for people to understand how real football is, is good. It is often popular culture that can help with these things,” Rutstein said.

Walk across 40th street in midtown Manhattan, three blocks south of Times Square, and two East of Grand Central, and one building sticks out from the rest. In an otherwise unassuming block, a Wrexham flag juts out from a facade, and stands, almost imposingly, over the sidewalk.

It marks the home of Printers Alley, one of a handful of bars in New York that has embraced the Wrexham story in full.

“The TV show was semi-new and kind of exciting for maybe the non-soccer fan that was just watching Ryan Reynolds and McElhenney, and we're familiar with them,” Rob Doyle, who owns the bar, said.

And they have taken advantage of the groundswell of interest. Printers Alley has established itself as, in effect, the definitive spot to watch Wrexham in New York City. What started with a few curious fans and the occasional Welshman has now become a bit of a local phenomenon.

“We have Wrexham coming in, like every day of the week. They're walking by, they see the flag outside, they know about the place. They stop in, have a couple of beers, and then they're back to watch the game on the weekend,” said Ed O'Doherty, who works behind the bar. The crowd these days is a real mix. But those who really support the Red Dragons are there week in, week out.

“A lot of our guys that come in, they’re hardcore fans. They're from Wales. They're either expats, they're over there, living here, or else they're coming here nowadays, and they're getting a few hours away from the missus to go watch the game,” O'Doherty added.

It helps, too, that they have made efforts to connect with the club. Wrexham, in turn, have held events at the bar, and Printers now serves Wrexham Lager (something O'Doherty describes as a ‘solid').

The great irony is that Wrexham really weren’t supposed to be here. All logic suggests that the magic tends to run out pretty quickly in the English football pyramid. One promotion is a massive achievement. Two in a row is even more impressive - even if it is attainable.

“It’s not a miracle. I’m happy for them, and I’m glad it’s happening, and it’s good for everybody. But it’s not a miracle. It’s not a miracle that they were spending three times as much as everyone in League Two and get promoted, or three times as much as everyone in League One and get promoted. But it’s great,” Donovan said.

The leap from League One to the Championship - never mind the fact that they spent up to $40 million on new talent - tends to be too much for a lot of teams.

“That's a huge jump to the championship. A huge jump. And then it's like anything that goes up a division. It's difficult for coaches. You've got a team, you've also got a successful unit, which is cohesive, is happy, and functions as a group of people. But the players that bring you up aren't necessarily the players to get you to the next stage,” Shreeves said.

In effect, mid-table would have been a reasonable goal. And at first, it seemed that they might struggle even more.

“At the start of the season, Wrexham looked way out of their depth,” Reo-Coker said.

Yet they went nine unbeaten from October to December 2025. There have been bumps, to be sure, but they are now one win away from a playoff spot. If they secure sixth, they are three games away from playing Premier League football.

A lot of the key names of the original years are gone. Paul Mullin, who bagged 110 goals in 170 games and was a star of the early years of the American ownership, now plays for Bradford City. Ollie Palmer left for Swindon Town last summer.

There may even be changes at the top end. A jump to the Premier League would presumably require significant outside investment. Reynolds and Mac have already sold two minority stakes in the club. Yet the story might already be complete. At this point, Wrexham have their fans in the U.S. Whatever happens this weekend, the job might just be done.

“It’s a very fluid world that we live in now. You can change your friends, can change your surname...You can change your politics. You could change anything. You can't change your football team,” Shreeves said.