What Wrexham’s 55,000-seater stadium could look like
Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds recently revealed plans to develop the club’s SToK Racecourse home into a stadium with up to 55,000 seats.
The Red Dragons will be playing in League One next season after back-to-back promotions and attracting a worldwide fan-base following the success of the FX docuseries ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ and the presence of their Hollywood A-listers.
But Wrexham’s historic ground only holds around 12,600 fans at present, with a temporary stand currently standing on the derelict Kop end behind one goal.
The sky is the limit when it comes to what a redeveloped Racecourse could look like.
Which has evidently got people imagining just what that futuristic state-of-the-art could resemble.
With that in mind OLBG enlisted the help of AI program Midjourney Bot to show how impressive a completely renovated Racecourse could become.
Wrexham can only fit 12,600 fans through the turnstiles at present, although plans are in place for a new Kop Stand. McElhenney and Reynolds are aiming much bigger than that, though, and OLBG have enlisted the help of AI program Midjourney Bot to show how impressive a completely renovated Racecourse could become.
These stunning concept designs include glass exteriors, VIP sections and large outdoor areas in which supporters can congregate. There is a more traditional offering, which still includes full two-tiered seating inside a red and white bowl, with the plans – if they were to become reality – set to give Wrexham the sixth-largest capacity in English club football, as they rise above the likes of Chelsea and Newcastle.
“We have a plan in place right now that would work from stand to stand so eventually you get all four sides,” McElhenney said in an interview with entertainment website Collider.
“It’s hard to say for sure, but we think we could get between 45,000 and 55,000 people in there.”
To which Reynolds added: “Like the whole town could come to a game.”
McElhenney and Reynolds, however, expressed frustration with “bureaucratic red tape” over UK building regulations.
“Of course safety concerns and all those regulations are in place for a reason, but then some things just seem hurdles for hurdles’ sake,” McElhenney said.
“It’s a lot harder to build in the UK than I have found almost anywhere else in the world.
“Getting to the Premier League is the ultimate goal – and staying in the Premier League so it’s sustainable.
“But only doing it in a fashion that the community supports because there are all sorts of ways to succeed.
“We feel that there are only a few paths to be ethically viable to do so.”
Wrexham’s Racecourse ground is the world’s oldest international football stadium that still hosts matches, having staged its first Wales home game in 1877.
Developing the stadium significantly would almost certainly result in Wales returning to Wrexham on a more regular basis.
Wales’ senior men’s team have only played at the Racecourse twice since 2009, low-profile friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago and Gibraltar.
McElhenney and Reynolds, meanwhile, have reportedly purchased an undisclosed minority stake in Mexican club Necaxa.
American entertainment publication Variety said the pair join other investors such as actress Eva Longoria, model Kate Upton, NFL star Odell Beckham Jr and former Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil at the top-tier club.
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This is taking fantasy football to a new level.
Good luck to them all, the club, fans and the local community. If they can reach the premier league, the whole area benefits financially, as Swansea council and business can confirm, from a stay in the top league. Research by Cardiff uni said £58 million generated in the local economy in the first year and 340 jobs created or protected.
What you are saying is right but they have to stay in the Premier League to sustain that wealth and as you know Cardiff and Swansea are no longer there.
This is a brilliant proposal, if just a dream currently. 55,000 is probably excessive but the principle is fine.
Its development would allow football (and maybe rugby) internationals, as well as mega other sporting and non-sporting events to be held in North East Wales. It’s about time that the folk in Cardiff Bay realise that Wales exists north of the Gabalfa flyover. Bring it on folks.
I wish Wrexham FC every success but don’t count your chickens before they hatch
What about the Turf? Cant knock that down.
55,000 capacity stadium in a town smaller than Bridgend.
Sounds plausible.
If you go on Google maps, Wrexham is about as big as Newport, not Bridgend mate. Wrexham is everything from the industrial estate to all the towns that surround the city. I think people need to let go of the memory of Wrexham as a market town now because it hasn’t been for some time and never will be again.
id also put money on it being the fastest growing city in the UK too. (Per population, obviously london, cardiff etc are also growing)
It couldn’t be done without demolishing much of the infrastructure of that part of Wrecsam (including the Turf Hotel and Wrexham General station, and parts of the university).
It would also require far more car parking, better roads, and a bigger railway station just to cope with a stadium of 20,000+.
55,000 is pie in the sky,
Total nonsense.
These are not actual plans are they, these are just images output from generative AI?
Two sheds and a bench, that’s all you’re allowed Wrecsam…