Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are injecting an additional £187,000 into Wrexham as they receive a favorable boost for the SToK Racecourse stadium.
In North Wales, the Hollywood co-chairmen, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have been actively spearheading a bid to secure the lease for the club’s iconic ground from the Wrexham Football Supporter’s Society Limited (WST). This comes after they already paid £2 million to acquire the freehold of the Racecourse Ground in June 2022.
The club’s negotiations with WST have been prolonged, but a favorable resolution that mutually benefits all parties is now imminent. Wrexham has disclosed that a recommendation has been put forward to the supporters’ membership group, suggesting acceptance of a proposal from the current board.
Upon the surrender of the stadium lease, the Red Dragons can proceed with their Kop stand redevelopment project. Additionally, there is an agreement in place for the club to continue operating in its existing location until at least the year 2115.
Wrexham release an statement about the Racecourse Ground lease
But in a statement, Reynolds and McElhenney confirmed that the club will make a payment of £187,000 upon surrendering the lease, with an annual payment of £1,000 (subject to a 3% annual increase).
Additionally, Wrexham have to meet the legal costs of the WST connected with the surrender of the lease: “We were delighted to receive the support of the Directors of the WST and share their understandable desire to protect the long-term future of the Club. Our legacy at the Club will not be defined while we are its custodians, so we wanted to address the anomaly in the WST lease for the Racecourse Ground that did not include the requirement for the team to actually play at the stadium, only not allow it to be used for any other purpose.We didn’t want anyone in the future to be able to exploit that position.
“The payment of £187,000, is an equivalent amount to that contributed by fans to save the Club. To know that we will provide the funding to effectively pay everyone back who contributed to save the Club is worth every penny and gives us a great deal of satisfaction. We would appeal to the 824 members who have a vote, to do so in favour of the proposal and allow the Club to continue on this wonderful journey we are all on.”
