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Analysis
8 min read

Celebrity ownership: a new club business model?

With Angel City FC winning 2-1 in their league debut on Saturday and Wrexham AFC in the play-offs, will celebrity football projects become more common?

  • The rise of the MLS has attracted investors, with stakes now held by Magic Johnson and Will Ferrell (LAFC), Matthew McConaughey (Austin FC) and Kevin Durant (Philadelphia Union)
  • In only 18 months Angel City has reached 244k social media followers, ahead of some clubs established nearly a decade ago
  • Wrexham’s attendances are up 110% and season tickets up 125%, while the sale of 14,000 shirts smashes the previous record of 3,896

In the Summer of 2020, two pieces of football industry news raised eyebrows, one each side of the Atlantic.

The first was the announcement on 21 July of the formation of a new franchise in the NWSL, the first women's professional soccer team in the Los Angeles area since the LA Sol of Women's Professional Soccer folded in 2010, to be named Angel City FC. The second, at the end of September, was leaked news of a takeover of the world’s third-oldest football club, Wrexham AFC of the National League, the fifth tier of English football.

The common denominator of these two pieces of news? Both involved Hollywood royalty. The Angel City project is spearheaded by Academy Award winning actor Natalie Portman, alongside other celebrity investors, while non-league Wrexham was bought from its supporters by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
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