Welcome to Wrexham!
By Henry Wishcamper | Bustling Spaces LLC | August 2024
In 2019, the prospects for Wrexham FC were bleak. The oldest soccer club in Wales had floundered for 15 years in the National League, the lowest level of British professional football. Wrexham, a city of 45,000 people, was once an industrial and coal mining center, but it had yet to recover from the loss of its primary source of employment when the last of the coal mines closed in the 1980s. Wrexham FC’s proud football legacy continued into the 1980s and 90s, when the club gained its reputation as
“Giant Killers,” capable of upsetting top Premier League teams like Arsenal. By 2020, however, the club’s former glory seemed impossible to recreate. The club had been struggling financially for years in the face of a progressive crisis: the costs of fielding a football team had been slowly but continuously increasing while revenue from a dwindling fan base decreased. This progressive crisis was exacerbated by a crumbling stadium, the Racecourse (the oldest international football stadium in the world) with expensive maintenance costs that drew resources away from the team on the field.
Many American arts institutions face a progressive crisis that closely resembles that of Wrexham FC. Season subscription sales have been slowly, continuously declining for decades. Like Wrexham FC, arts administrators have struggled for decades to balance the ever-increasing costs of producing artistic programming with the slow but continuous decline in ticket revenue.
Arts institutions are currently facing an acute crisis on top of this progressive crisis. The acute crisis is the fact that - for the most part - audiences have not returned post-Covid, and audience behavior has shifted in drastic ways that are creating financial volatility for arts institutions. Audiences are purchasing their tickets later, they are less willing to engage with unfamiliar or challenging material, and they are more price sensitive. The acute crisis feels like it requires an immediate, triage response, which pulls attention from creating and implementing a strategy to solve the ongoing progressive crisis.
In 2020, Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased Wrexham FC. The Hulu docuseries ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ chronicles the story of the club’s first two seasons under the leadership of its two new Chairmen. The show offers inspiration and concrete ideas for non-profit American arts institutions struggling to fulfill their mission and produce top-quality art in the face of the one-two punch of our acute and progressive crises.
Within the first two seasons, the overhauled club won the National Division championship and earned promotion to English Football League Two. The National Division, where Wrexham had spent the previous 15 years, is the fifth tier in a four tier system. It is referred to as non-tier. If you think about baseball, we have the Major League and the Minor Leagues. The Minor Leagues consist of Triple A, Double A, and Single A. Below that, you have the Independent Leagues, which are essentially a series of regional semi-pro leagues. The National League in British Football is the equivalent of the Independent Leagues. With promotion to League Two, Wrexham has essentially moved from semi-pro to professional football. They are currently third in the table in League Two and competing for promotion to League One.
The club was not saved by minor adjustments to the business model that had sustained the club for more than 100 years. Instead, Rob and Ryan, as they are known on the show, made a series of long-needed changes and bold gambles that, if successful, would place the club on new financial footing for both the short and long term. They greatly expanded the club’s payroll and upgraded the caliber of talent both on and off the field. They leveraged their own celebrity and social media savvy to raise the club’s profile worldwide, attract lucrative new corporate sponsorships, and sell a crapton of merch. They applied to the Welsh government for £25 million in government funding to repair and expand the Racecourse, which would significantly expand how much ticket revenue the club could generate.
Importantly, Ryan and Rob overhauled Wrexham FC’s financial strategy while simultaneously improving the quality of play on the field, increasing the enjoyment of its loyal fan base, attracting new fans around the world, and bringing hope and pride to a struggling community. In doing so, they appear to have defused the progressive crisis that was slowly killing the club.
While Wrexham FC’s new financial strategy is unique to the club and its circumstances, there are at least four profound lessons for American arts institutions:
Lean into Place
Wrexham FC and the city of Wrexham are inextricably linked, a connection that spans over 100 years. The city and the club are essential elements - alongside family, jobs, schools, and religious congregations - in shaping how loyal fans perceive their home and themselves.
‘Welcome to Wrexham’ portrays numerous scenes where fans express the centrality of place in their love of the club. For the loyal fan base, the decades-long struggles of both the club and the city have forged an even stronger bond and a deeper connection to their own identity.
Interestingly, it is this story of the transformation of a struggling football club in a declining post-industrial city that has sparked the imagination of fans of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’. People around the world can relate to the story of post-industrial cities struggling to maintain their identity in the face of long-lost economic opportunities. Rob McElhenney speaks eloquently about the similarities he sees between Wrexham and his hometown of Philadelphia. My love of the show is connected in part to the connections I see between Wrexham and the Southside of Chicago where I currently live; the declining milltowns like Lawrence, Massachusetts where my mother grew up; and towns like Lewiston and Auburn in my home state of Maine.
Coal mining provided the engine for Wrexham’s economy until the last of the mines closed in the 1980s.
Photo Credit: Wrexham History
Here in the United States, our sports teams also create and benefit from this deep connection between team and city. However, arts institutions for the most part miss it. If a person was brought blindfolded into a symphony, regional theater, or opera, they would have a hard time identifying whether they were in Cleveland or Dallas.
Depending on the size of the institution, the geographic boundary of place may differ. A handful of institutions may have the capacity to forge a connection to their city as a whole. Most others would be better focusing on creating this connection at the neighborhood scale. Rural arts institutions may forge a sense of place that spans several communities or an entire county. Whatever scale fits your institution, there is the opportunity to collaborate with that community to co-design how the community wants to:
Celebrate its cultural heritage,
Address its pressing civic concerns, and
Pass on its values to the next generation.
An arts institution that serves a vessel for these three core community needs will become essential to that community’s understanding of itself.
In my experience, the vast majority of arts lovers discovered that love as a child going to see a magical performance or exhibit with their families or schools. It is the same story that nearly every Wrexham fan (and most of the players) tell on the show; they fell in love as kids going to games with their families. Now, those fans make a point to pass that love on to their kids (and make sure they allot time and money to do so). Our understanding of place as part of our identity is built through time and repetition.
2. Spend more time with audiences
Ryan and Rob invest a significant amount of time hanging out with and engaging the people of Wrexham. Even before acquiring the club, the prospective ownership team conducted multiple Zoom sessions to explain their vision for the club to the fanbase and secure community buy-in. Throughout ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, we see Ryan and Rob engaging with fans: at games at the Racecourse and on the road, at rallies and parades, at the iconic Turf pub next to the Racecourse, at civic events, and formal dinners. Wrexham players also spend a lot of time engaging both in their official capacity as ambassadors of the club and as people who live in the community.
Wayne Jones, owner of the Turf Pub adjacent to the Racecourse. Photo Credit: BBC News
As a non-profit arts administrator, I spent a significant amount of time engaging with audiences. The vast majority of that time was spent engaging a very specific segment of the audience: funders. I attended opening night dinners, board meetings, holiday parties, women’s board luncheons, corporate leadership breakfasts, estate planning brunches, etc., etc.. There is a prevailing assumption that funders are motivated to give by their love of an arts institution and its work. I think it is a more complex dynamic and one that offers great possibilities for arts institutions grappling with the one-two punch of our acute and progressive crises: funders' love for arts institutions and their artistic programming grows over time through ongoing engagement with artists and staff.
Funders make ideal audience members. They attend regularly, purchase tickets/subscriptions well in advance and often show up early in a production’s run. They enthusiastically share their experiences with friends, are open to exploring unfamiliar works, and demonstrate loyalty by returning even if they didn’t enjoy a previous performance. Funders attach a strong personal connection to the institution, viewing it as a central component of their sense of place.
Many arts institutions are more successful at maintaining funders and loyal audiences than we are at attracting and retaining new audiences. Why not apply the strategy that has proven so successful with funders to potential new audiences? Feed them. Offer them wine. Talk to them before and after performances. Tell them that they are essential to the ongoing success of the institution.
While arts institutions often succeed in engaging funders within our premises, cultivating a new audience demands a more deliberate focus on outreach beyond our building into the community - participating in festivals, street fairs, parades, and connecting with local religious institutions, senior centers and preschools. Establishing booths at gatherings or sending an artist or staff member out into the community to tell people about an upcoming performance is a significant investment of time, but it is a powerful way to develop meaningful, ongoing relationships with new audiences. Our understanding of place is built through time and repetition. New audience engagement needs to be an ongoing process rather than a series of individual events connected to a specific performance.
3. There are a lot of earned income opportunities beyond ticket sales.
Wrexham FC sells a crapton of merch. It is perhaps unrealistic to assume that any American arts institution can sell as much merchandise as Wrexham FC. Nevertheless, with a change in mindset, many arts institutions could significantly expand their total non-ticket related earned income.
Many arts institutions own or occupy beautiful buildings in central, high-traffic areas where people need to kill an hour or two on their laptops between meetings, or are looking for someplace nice to read during their lunch hour. And yet, many arts institutions keep our prime, centrally located real estate closed to the public for all but three or four hours a day. Opening up our public spaces and inviting the public to spend time there would create meaningful opportunities to build relationships with new and existing patrons, publicize our programming, keep our spaces filled with energy and activity, and generate earned revenue.
Lobbies could easily generate far more earned revenue for their institutions than they currently do. Why not stock our gift shops with items people need as they return to work or are heading home: candy, potato chips, water, newspapers. We could offer space within our gift shops for local artisans and musicians to sell their products or let them set up their own small stands in underused areas of our lobbies. An office worker who stops on the way back from lunch for a cookie, a student who finds a cozy spot to do their homework, or a person who can grab a coffee and kill 15 minutes on their way to their doctors appointment will begin to see an arts institution as part of their understanding of place - even if they never attend any arts programming.
When I go to a sporting event, I spend far more on things other than the ticket itself than I do at a performance or other artistic event. Spending $8 for a Polish sausage (with mustard, peppers and onions, natch), $12 for a beer (and how many sports fans buy just 1?), $8 on peanuts and $5 for a program seems pretty standard. That’s $35 right there, and I haven’t even bought a jersey or paid for parking. If I take my kids the total goes up significantly. At most artistic performances, I may spend $3 on coffee and $3 on a cookie… but usually not. Audiences at artistic institutions typically make the majority of their non-ticket expenditures at local restaurants and bars. This spending plays a crucial role in the hyperlocal economy. However, it does not directly contribute to the financial well-being of the arts institution.
We should find ways to encourage audiences to spend longer in our buildings each time they visit. I spent 7 years as the director of the Goodman Theatre’s production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Audiences typically arrived at the theater much earlier than they did for other shows in Goodman's season. They spent that time taking selfies, looking at the holiday decor, browsing the expanded gift shop, having cocoa and cookies… having fun and spending money.
Wrexham FC sells a crapton of merch. Photo Credit: Wrexham AFC
Let’s not overlook the significance of the merch. Wrexham FC does an incredible job of using its social media platforms and the Hulu show to sell club merchandise worldwide. The Wrexham FC goalkeeper last season placed GoPro cameras in the net and livestreamed to his YouTube channel during games. All aspects of the club’s finances are greatly impacted by the reach of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, whether it’s income directly from the show itself, expanded ticket sales, or sales of merchandise.
During the heart of the pandemic, arts institutions did a terrific job of engaging digital platforms as a way to survive the acute crisis of Covid-19. Now, we need to marshall that same innovative energy to use digital platforms to survive the progressive crisis of the ongoing, chronic decline in revenue from season subscriptions and ticket sales.
We know that during the heart of the pandemic, people in Dubai were watching live theater in Chicago. Is it crazy to imagine that arts institutions could use global merchandise sales to subsidize production costs for our artistic programming?
4. Redesign the business model and provide a capital infusion to launch it
Ryan and Rob confronted the progressive crisis that was slowly killing Wrexham FC with a radical reworking of the club’s business model backed by a substantial infusion of capital before they knew whether it would work. The opening scene of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ consists of Ryan and Rob walking out onto the Racecourse pitch for the first time. They stand in the center of the pitch and look out at the stadium of the club they’ve just purchased.
After a few moments of awed silence, Rob acknowledges his fears of failure: “So, there is a real risk for us…. There’s a real version of this story where we are villains.” He giggles nervously and adds “It doesn’t work, and we go, ‘What are we going to do? We have to sell [the club]’ and we’re the bad guys.”
Rob and Ryan. Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney / FX
As they stood there on the field that day, Ryan and Rob had already committed to a new business model that depended on at least two major outcomes outside their control. The club needed to win promotion out of the National division within two years. Promotion would open them up to significant funds from the league that would enable them to sustain the enormous additions they’ve made to the payroll. If the club fails to achieve promotion, Ryan and Rob won’t be able to afford to sustain the greatly expanded payroll of its players and executives. Yes, they now had a team with a much larger payroll than its competition but that is no guarantee of success on the pitch. Professional sports are filled with teams with bloated payrolls that reside in the basement of their divisions.
Ryan and Rob had also purchased the club and its crumbling stadium before they knew if they would be awarded the £25 million in government funding to repair and expand the Racecourse. In fact, their proposal was initially rejected in 2022, leaving the club scrambling. The Welsh government eventually approved the deal in 2023, which suggests that the club’s improved play catalyzed the government investment in the capital infrastructure, not the other way around.
The Racecourse Stadium, the oldest international soccer stadium. Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney / FX)
The progressive crisis facing American arts institutions will not be solved by incremental improvements to the existing business model. ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ shows a tangible example of how to create a more sustainable and vital institution by backing a radical reworking of the business model with a substantial infusion of capital. But how does an arts institution that is struggling to survive a progressive decline in its earned and contributed revenue marshall a significant infusion of capital to support an untested reworking of its entire business model?
Whether it is an investment of several hundred thousand dollars of enhancement money from a commercial producer interested in transferring a new musical to Broadway or a $75 million capital campaign for a new building, arts institutions have long track records of securing substantial capital resources to finance specific projects. We typically think of capital campaigns for buildings as the primary vehicle for arts institutions to secure significant capital infusions; but does a major capital campaign need to be limited to a new or expanded building? If an arts institution could succeed in making the case to its board, funders, government officials, corporate sponsor and other stakeholders that they have a vision for a more sustainable financial future for the institution (and all who benefit from it), it would have a real shot at untangling itself from the progressive crisis that has been suffocating the sector for decades.
A small Welsh football club has pointed the way. They have succeeded in dramatically increasing their club’s revenue, while simultaneously improving the quality of their core product, enhancing the experience of their loyal fans, attracting new fans both locally and around the world, and bringing a deep sense of pride and hope to their community.
At the end of that opening scene at the Racecourse, Rob and Ryan give themselves a few moments to ponder the risks that Rob had just articulated.
And then Ryan says: “Fuck that!”
“Yeah, fuck that.” says Rob.
Another beat and then Ryan says: “It’s going to work.”
