Wrexham owners want to expand stadium capacity to 50,000

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Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney say they have plans to expand the club's Racecourse Ground to a capacity of approximately 50,000.

The Racecourse currently seats 12,600 fans but will have a capacity of 16,000 once existing construction on the world's oldest international football stadium is completed.

Wrexham have enjoyed unprecedented success since McElhenney and Reynolds took control of the club in February 2021, securing back-to-back promotions from the National League in the 2022-23 campaign and then League Two this season. That means the Welsh club will play in League One — the third tier of English football — for the first time in 19 years next season.

Matchday income is a key revenue stream for clubs and the Racecourse has regularly sold out over the past few seasons, leading to Wrexham's owners looking to expand its capacity.

"We have a plan in place right now that would eventually work from stand to stand, so eventually you get all four sides," McElhenney said in an interview with Collider. "It's hard to say for sure, but we think we could get between 45,000-55,000 people in there."

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Wrexham's Racecourse Ground has been the team's home since 1864 (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Wrexham have already said their new Kop stand will not be ready for the start of next season, but their 12,600 capacity still puts them around the middle of the pack for League One clubs.

The pair have, though, bemoaned the bureaucracy in the UK and Wales as a stumbling block to their ambitious plans.

"In Wales, it really is a lot of red tape, and it's just sort of figuring out ways to tick all those boxes and make sure that every single bureaucrat is happy," Reynolds said.

"It is definitely a comedic point of consternation in the (Welcome to Wrexham) show how often we're running up against bureaucracy," McElhenney added. "And of course, safety concerns and things like that, and all those regulations are there in place for a reason.

"But then there are some things that just seem like hurdles for hurdle's sake. It's a lot harder to build in the UK than, I found, almost anywhere else in the world."

Wrexham's 2023-24 season is over, with the team finishing second in League Two to secure promotion.

They will again visit the United States as part of their pre-season plans where they will face Premier League sides Chelsea and Bournemouth, as well as travelling to Canada to play Vancouver Whitecaps.