Wrexham's success captivating US audiences more than MLS

Wrexham is currently one of the biggest talking points in US sport. So much so that the fifth division Welsh soccer team is surpassing MLS in popularity, according to data made available by Google.

For 2023 to date in the United States, Wrexham is pulling in relatively more searches in Google than Major League Soccer. Despite the 2023 season of MLS kicking off around two months ago, Wrexham’s success in earning promotion has captivated American audiences. Google Trends, a service that compares searches across Google, reveals that Wrexham surpasses MLS in popularity at many points.

So far this year, there are two major spikes in the popular times for Wrexham compared to MLS. One of those was in late January, and the other was in the middle of April. The former was when Wrexham played Sheffield United in the FA Cup in two thrilling cup ties. More recently, Wrexham secured promotion to rousing support both in Wales and in the United States.

Searches for ‘Wrexham’ in the United States this year surged on two occasions. Both of those, comparatively speaking, exceeded the maximum searches for MLS as a soccer league in 2023. Note that MLS did average more searches from mid-February through early April. However, the aforementioned spikes buoyed the Welsh club’s average to surpass that of MLS this year. Moreover, the incomplete data for the end of April shows that Wrexham far exceeds that of MLS.

Worryingly for MLS, the metrics show that the league has plateaued in recent weeks based on people searching for more information about the top-fight American league.

Wrexham beats MLS on popular Google searches

In many ways, Wrexham has been the talk of the soccer world in the United States. Much of that credit goes to its Hollywood owners who invested heavily in creating a historically successful squad. That success on the field and off with the Welcome to Wrexham documentary has Wrexham more popular than some MLS clubs. With Wrexham planning a US tour this summer with a set of friendlies against Manchester United and Chelsea, the Red Dragons are fighting for exposure against American clubs.

The Athletic published a story that discusses how well Wrexham would do in the 29-team MLS campaign. Wrexham would have to significantly over perform to hang around in Major League Soccer. Not only does every MLS team exceed Wrexham in squad strength, but MLS is ranked higher than every English Pyramid division except for the Premier League. That includes the Championship, which is two leagues higher than Wrexham’s next League.

Despite the relatively lower quality, Wrexham makes a case for being more popular than MLS. Owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney plan to use that popularity to get the club into the Premier League sometime down the road.

For Major League Soccer, this could say volumes about the interest in the league. Outside of the MLS Cup Playoffs, interest would generally be the highest at the beginning of the league’s season. Fans are ready to follow league-wide results as they happen. Yet, in the early stages of the 2023 campaign, the league is being outdone by a fifth-tier side in Wales.