Wrexham’s ‘financial stability’ could be at risk after Ryan Reynolds’ 55k stadium dream

Wrexham’s owners have been warned their future ‘could be at risk’ over plans to increase the Racecourse Ground’s capacity to 55,000.
The Red Dragons’ Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have grand ideas to transform the club’s stadium in the long-term, reports the Mirror.
The Red Dragons recently celebrated their second consecutive promotion after finishing second in League Two, just four points behind champions Stockport County who’ll join them in League One next season.

Thinking big ahead of a huge few years for the club, the co-owners recently spoke on their long-term plans to transform the Racecourse Ground from their current capacity of 12.6k to a whopping 55k – which is bigger than the likes of Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, Newcastle’s St James Park, and Aston Villa’s Villa Park.
Their weighty ambitions were picked apart by football finance expert Rob Wilson, who spoke to OLBG on the financial constraints a transformation of their stadium could cause the club.

“Wrexham’s new stadium would cost in the hundreds of millions or more, just look at the cost of building materials as well as getting things done,” Wilson said.
“Look at Manchester United’s stadium estimate, a £2billion rebuild for a 90,000 seat stadium. So for Wrexham you are absolutely talking about hundreds of millions of pounds and they don’t currently have the financial resources to be able to do that, unless it was a gift.

“I don’t know what the net worth is of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney but to pull off something that size there would be a significant amount of borrowing, which will put the financial stability of the club at risk if they don’t continue their progression up the leagues.”