Is Wrexham AFC's fame bringing viewers to online council meetings?

Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds took over Wrexham AFC in November 2020

When Hollywood superstars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over Wrexham football club, it's a safe bet local councillors did not imagine they themselves would get more screen time.

But viewing figures for the council's online meetings appear to have been given a boost from Wrexham AFC's fame.

The numbers viewing streamed meetings have risen from 15 last March to over 1,000 for one webcast, with average viewers regularly over 100.

Interest in the club is one reason.

When the council's planning committee met in November to approve plans to redevelop the Kop stand at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground, 1,054 people tuned in via their browsers to see the decision given the green light.

Admittedly this is the only meeting to break four figures.

But while the November meeting relating to Wrexham might be a high point, other planning meetings are also attracting three-figure viewing numbers.

A meeting which proposed giving the club's co-owners the Freedom of Wrexham was more popular than the one which actually bestowed it on them, and which was attended via an online link by Ryan Reynolds on behalf of the duo.

The pair and the club have featured on the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham , which they made about their takeover of the National league team in November 2020, and which has been screened around the world.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the democratic services committee would hear a full update of how many viewings each webcast had attracted between March 2022 and February 2023 at its meeting next week.