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Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have made no secret of their desire to elevate Wrexham to the lofty heights of the Premier League.
The Hollywood stardust has already helped to propel the Welsh team out of the National League and straight out of EFL League Two, so they will be playing in League One for the 2024-25 season.
Moving up the leagues brings with it attendant financial rewards, but just how much do Wrexham stand to earn from their promotion? GOAL brings you everything you need to know.
How much is promotion to League One worth to Wrexham?
The value of Wrexham's promotion to League One is driven by a number of factors, including payments from the EFL, the club's own sponsorship deals, increased exposure in the football market and so on.
To give you a simple picture, each team that competes across the three EFL divisions receives a number of different central payments as part of their involvement in the competition.
EFL payments increase
These payments come in the form of a 'Solidarity Payment' (teams recently relegated from the Premier League receive a 'Parachute Payment' instead), a 'Basic Award' and facility fees.
In the 2023-24 season, League One clubs received £778,500 as a Solidarity Payment and a £920,000 Basic Payment - a total of £1,698,500. In terms of facility fees, for televised matches in League One, home teams would receive £30,000 and away teams got £10,000.
To put that into context, Wrexham received a £519,000 Solidarity Payment and £635,000 Basic Payment for playing in League Two in 2023-24, amounting to £1,154,000 - that's over half a million less than the total received by each League One club.
You can see the breakdown of Solidarity Payments and Basic Award Payments for 2023-24 in the table below.
| Division | Solidarity Payment | Basic Payment | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | £5,190,000 | £3,210,000 | £8,400,000 |
| League One | £778,500 | £920,000 | £1,698,500 |
| League Two | £519,000 | £635,000 | £1,154,000 |
GettyGames against bigger teams
As well as the fixed payments from the league, Wrexham will have a few more encounters with bigger teams in League One, which will ensure plenty of sell-out crowds and customs from visiting supporters at the Racecourse Ground.
In 2024-25, for example, they definitely will lock horns with Reading, Wigan Athletic and Charlton Athletic, famous English clubs with loyal fanbases who were competing in the Premier League not too long ago.
Depending on how things pan out in the Championship this season, they could also end up colliding with Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield Town or - whisper it - Tom Brady's Birmingham City.
Their entry point to the Carabao Cup and FA Cup remains unchanged, though, so there is no guarantee of bigger ties in those competitions unless they earn it by winning games. However, a run of wins in either competition would have the effect of introducing millions to the coffers in prize money.
Getty ImagesGreater profile for sponsors
While Wrexham's profile and reach is already global due to their high-profile owners and the hugely successful Welcome to Wrexham documentary series, they will benefit from an increase in general interest in League One.
While they no doubt have sponsors lining up to work with them already, being in a higher league will naturally boost their negotiating position.
To give an idea of the scale here, the club's income from sponsorship and advertising rose from just over £1 million in 2022 to £1.8 million in 2023.
The figures for the 2023-24 season will be released in June and should make for interesting reading, but, either way, Reynolds and McElhenney will be anticipating further growth in 2024-25.
GettyShirt sales & retail boost
Similarly, Wrexham will be hopeful that they can continue to build their expanding retail operation in 2024-25, having enjoyed huge growth from 2022 to 2023.
With the improvement of capacity and awareness (thanks to the documentary) in recent years, Wrexham reported £3.4 million in retail sales in 2023, which was an incredible increase from the £1.3 million reported in 2022.
Now that they are in the third tier of the English football pyramid, Wrexham should be able to attract some bigger names too, which will only contribute to the growing appeal of the club.
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