Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds spent how much on Wrexham AFC? The actors have been candid about putting up millions of dollars for the Welsh soccer club.
The duo famously bought the then-failing soccer (football in Wales) club for $2.5 million in 2020, but have since turned it into a major franchise. However, as the team continues to get better — they’ve been promoted three times in three years — McElhenney and Reynolds have continued to pay up.
During the Welcome to Wrexham season 2 premiere in September 2023, Reynolds even joked that he would “sell” one of the four children he shares with Blake Lively to raise the $25.5 million for the team. (Reynolds and Lively are parents of James, Inez, Betty and Olin.)
Keep scrolling to see how much Wrexham has cost McElhenney and Reynolds over the years:
In the Red
“Let’s talk about how much money we’re losing,” McElhenney quipped during an October 2023 episode of Welcome to Wrexham. At the time, it was revealed that they had lost an estimated $12 million.
“I’m gonna go throw up,” Reynolds replied. When McElhenney asked how they would start to make money, the idea of promotion was thrown around. (The team has been promoted multiple times, but money still seems to be a factor.)
Building a Stadium
The expansion of Wrexham’s Racecourse — their stadium — has been a multi-year project and it’s not cheap.
“We applied to the U.K. government for some money to build a fancy new stand there and got denied,” Wrexham executive director, Humphrey Ker, shared during a May 2024 Welcome to Wrexham episode. “But we decided to demolish the stand anyway and then we applied for more money, got that approved and then ran into any number of exciting regulatory issues that we had to iron out before we built the damn thing.”
They decided to build a temporary stadium, which left McElhenney and Reynolds with a net profit of negative $456,458.
Adding the Women’s Team
Just like the men’s team, the Wrexham AFC’s Women’s team can be promoted to other leagues. A May 2024 episode of Welcome to Wrexham revealed that the women athletes weren’t able to make any money.
“We asked last year when they were in the amateur status, could we pay them. The answer was no, by rule. In this league, you have limits on what you’re allowed to pay them,” McElhenney shared. “Just another one of the really fun U.K. regulations in football that hold you back from doing some of the things you want to do.”
They eventually joined the Adran Premier League — the top women’s football league in Wales — which allowed them to become a semiprofessional team, and get paid.
The Team’s Worth
The Welcome to Wrexham season 4 premiere in May 2025, revealed that the team is worth a near-$12 million. (The market value was listed at $11.98 million.)
Similarly, the teams wage bill — what they’re paying employees — was revealed to be $8.22 million.
Pulling the Trigger
After two years with two promotions, Wrexham came to a turning point during the Welcome to Wrexham season 4 premiere in May 2025. They had the option to stay in League One with a stabilized scenario, meaning they would risk losing $1 million over a few years and not get promoted, or McElhenney and Reynolds could take a more aggressive approach.
The actors agreed to put out an approximate $50 million for the hope of getting promoted to the Championship League at the end of the 2025 season. (The team was promoted in April 2025.)
“Do we essentially want to do the most responsible thing, which is build a team that’s sustainable in League One or do we want to put all of our chips on the table and make a push to get promoted and get into Championship?” McElhenney asked. The big risk here is the possibility of not getting promoted.
“I just say, let’s go for it,” Reynolds stated. “Let’s f***ing do it.”
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