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Wrexham's Hollywood story keeps getting better

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🚨 Headlines

⚽️ PSG 1, Arsenal 0: Paris Saint-Germain topped Arsenal in London to take control of their two-leg Champions League semifinal. They'll meet again next week in Paris.

🏀 Back-to-back: San Antonio guard Stephon Castle was named Rookie of the Year, joining Victor Wembanyama as the second straight Spur to win the award.

🏈 Big number: The 2025 NFL Draft averaged 7.5 million viewers, making it the second-most watched draft ever behind 2020, which aired during the early days of the pandemic.

🏀 USA vs. World: The NBA is exploring the idea of replacing its All-Star Game with a competition similar to the NHL's "4 Nations Face-Off." New broadcast partner NBC is pushing for the change.

🏈 Eli eyes Giants stake: Eli Manning is putting together a group to buy a minority stake (up to 10%) in his former team. The Giants are currently valued at $7.3 billion.

⚽️ Wrexham's Hollywood story keeps getting better

Wrexham have earned promotion from League One (third tier) to the Championship (second tier). (Kya Banasko/Getty Images)

When Wrexham first entered our collective consciousness, they were languishing in the fifth tier of English soccer. Four years later, the Red Dragons are one step away from the mighty Premier League.

Meteoric rise: The 160-year-old Welsh club owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney clinched promotion to the EFL Championship on Saturday, becoming the first team in England's top five divisions to ever earn back-to-back-to-back promotions.

Wrexham spent much of the last century in the third and fourth divisions of English football* before dropping down to the fifth tier in 2008, where they finished behind Torquay United, Kidderminster, Kettering Town and other clubs you've never heard of.
They finally returned to the fourth division in 2023, not too long after Reynolds and McElhenney took over control. A year later they earned promotion to the third division, and now they're heading to the second.

*The English Soccer Pyramid: The top four divisions are the Premier League (first), Championship (second), League One (third) and League Two (fourth). The divisions below that are classed as "non-league football," beginning with the National League (fifth) and National League North and South (sixth). Regional leagues make up the bottom five tiers.

Rob and Ryan pose with the League One trophy. (Kya Banasko/Getty Images)

The playbook: European soccer's promotion and relegation system presents a unique investment opportunity that can be summed up in one word: "upside." Instead of buying a small stake in, say, an NBA team that has nowhere left to climb, you can buy a lower-division soccer team in England and commit to improving the club. Those improvements ideally lead to promotions, which lead to more revenue and a higher valuation.

That's precisely how it's played out so far for Reynolds and McElhenney, who bought Wrexham in 2021 for $2.5 million with a plan to revolutionize one of the world's oldest soccer teams. Four years later, the club is valued at $134 million, an increase of 5,360%.
What was once a little-known club is now a globally-recognized brand with millions of social media followers, an Emmy Award-winning docuseries, a thriving merchandise business, and lucrative brand deals (United Airlines, Meta) typically reserved for Premier League giants.

The key ingredient: Wrexham's off-field success was almost inevitable given Ryan and Rob's celebrity and the instant success of "Welcome to Wrexham" (Season 4 coming soon). But the team's on-field success, which was far less certain, is what makes this all so compelling. What was already a fascinating business story is now a genuinely amazing sports story.

Midfielder James McClean celebrates with fans following Wrexham's promotion. (Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images)

Looking ahead: The ultimate goal for Wrexham is to reach the Premier League, where even the last-place team earned $147 million last year. But before they can start dreaming about top-flight soccer, the Red Dragons will need to survive the Championship, which is no joke. If they're serious about contending, they'll need to spend serious money on serious talent this summer.

💭 Parting thought: What's Wrexham’s ceiling?

The unprecedented rise dares you to dream. 'How far can Wrexham take this? Could they win the Premier League one day?' I am here to assure you that the Red Dragons will not be contending with Liverpool and the rest of the "Big Six" anytime soon. A far more reasonable goal for the up-and-coming club: (1) Make the Premier League and (2) Figure out how to stay there.

That last part is the real test, as the vast majority of top-flight newcomers tumble back down to the Championship within a year or two. Last season, all three newly-promoted teams were relegated (Sheffield United, Burnley, Luton Town) and it happened again this year (Southampton, Leicester City, Ipswich Town).

Wolverhampton are perhaps the best example of what Wrexham could realistically become in the not-too-distant future. While they never toiled in the depths that the Red Dragons called home, they did find themselves in the third division last decade. Wolves returned to the Premier League in 2018 and have stayed up ever since, finishing seventh in their first season before settling into the bottom half of the 20-team league (13th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 13th).

P.S. … The other club that has earned promotion from League One is Birmingham City, which is co-owned by another American celebrity: Tom Brady. He only has a minority stake in Wrexham's rival (3.3%) and isn't nearly as involved as Reynolds and McElhenney, but he's a character in this Hollywood story nonetheless.

🏀🏒 Survive or advance

Cade Cunningham and the Pistons emerged victorious at The Garden. (Adam Hunger/AP Photo)

Five elimination games took place on Tuesday night across the NBA and NHL. Two teams survived. Three teams advanced.

Survived: Detroit won a slugfest at MSG that featured 14 lead changes and 51 personal fouls (NYK leads 3-2) … Linus Ullmark shut out Toronto to send the "Battle of Ontario" back to Ottawa (TOR leads 3-2)

Pistons 106, Knicks 103
Senators 4, Maple Leafs 0

Advanced: Tyrese Haliburton's game-winner lifted the Pacers past the Bucks in a heated contest (IND wins 4-1) … The reigning champs cruised to victory on the parquet (BOS wins 4-1) … The Hurricanes came back from 3-0 down to oust the Devils and put themselves in rare postseason company* (CAR wins 4-1)

Pacers 119, Bucks 118 (OT)
Celtics 120, Magic 89
Hurricanes 5, Devils 4 (2OT)

Elsewhere: Jamal Murray exploded for 43 points against the Clippers (DEN leads 3-2) … The Golden Knights beat the Wild in OT for the second straight game (VGK leads 3-2) … The Oilers rallied for their third straight comeback win against the Kings (EDM leads 3-2)

*Carolina's consistency: The Hurricanes are just the fifth team in NHL history to win at least one playoff round in seven consecutive postseasons, joining the 1951-60 Canadiens (10 straight), the 1973-81 Flyers (9 straight), the 1979-85 Islanders (7 straight) and the 1984-93 Canadiens (10 straight).

⚾️ At a glance: Rarest baseball feats

Eugenio Suárez joined an exclusive club on Saturday when he became the 19th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game.

By the numbers: Where does the four-homer game rank in terms of baseball's rarest single-game feats? Here's a representative sample of other uncommon occurrences for comparison:

20 strikeouts (5x): Roger Clemens (1986, 1996), Kerry Wood (1998), Randy Johnson (2001) and, most recently, Max Scherzer (2016). That's it.
10 RBIs (16x): Shohei Ohtani's historic game last season in which he reached 50 homers and 50 steals was the 16th and most recent instance.
Perfect Game (24x): Former Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán tossed the 24th perfecto in June of 2023, snapping an 11-year drought.
3 Home Runs (696x): Suárez was the fourth player this season to mash at least three dingers in a game, which has happened 696 times. That includes a record six each by Mookie Betts, Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa.

Other rare feats: Five players have collected three hits in a single inning, 11 have recorded three sacrifice flies in a game, and there have been 15 unassisted triple plays and 116 immaculate innings (three strikeouts on nine pitches). Of course, we can't not mention the rarest feat of all: Fernando Tatis hitting two Grand Slams in one inning.

📊 By the numbers

⚾️ 3 straight homers (again)

For the second time this season, the Yankees led off a game with three straight home runs, which is something no MLB team has ever done before. The Bombers added three more long balls in a 15-3 rout of the Orioles, whose pitching staff is in shambles.

🏒 8 job openings

After parting ways with head coach Rick Tocchet, the Canucks are now the eighth NHL team on the hunt for a new coach. They join the Ducks, Rangers, Penguins, Kraken, Blackhawks, Bruins and Flyers.

🎾 3 straight losses

Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the Italian Open as he struggles to find his form. He's just 12-7 this season and has lost his last three matches,* all in straight sets. His next event will be the French Open, where he'll try to win a record 25th Grand Slam and 100th ATP title.

🏈 $76.4 million

The 49ers signed George Kittle to a four-year extension worth $76.4 million ($40 million guaranteed), making him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history. Not bad for a guy who was the ninth tight end taken in the 2017 draft.

*Unfamiliar territory: Before this year, Djokovic hadn't lost three straight matches since 2018. He's now done so twice since March.

📺 Watchlist: Lakers on the brink

Can Anthony Edwards and the Wolves close out the Lakers on the road? (David Berding/Getty Images)

The Lakers host the Timberwolves tonight (10pm ET, TNT) in a must-win Game 5.

Bad news, good news: The bad news for LA is that only 13 teams have ever erased a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series. The good news is that LeBron James has experience doing it. As you'll recall, he spearheaded the most memorable of those comebacks in the 2016 NBA Finals.

More to watch:

🏀 NBA Playoffs: Warriors (3-1) at Rockets (7:30pm, TNT) … Golden State can become just the seventh No. 7 seed* to win a first-round series.
🏒 NHL Playoffs: Canadiens (1-3) at Capitals (7pm, ESPN); Panthers (3-1) at Lightning (7:30pm, ESPN2); Blues (2-2) at Jets (9:30pm, ESPN)
⚽️ Champions League: Barcelona vs. Inter Milan (3pm, CBS) … Semifinal, first leg.
⚽️ Champions Cup: Inter Miami (0-2) vs. Vancouver (8pm, FS1) … Semifinal, second leg.
⚾️ MLB: Yankees at Orioles (6:35pm, Prime) … Carlos Carrasco (2-1, 5.26 ERA) vs. Cade Povich (1-2, 5.04 ERA).

*Lucky No. 7: The 1987 SuperSonics were the NBA's first No. 7 seed to win a first-round series, followed by the 1989 Warriors, 1991 Warriors, 1998 Knicks, 2010 Spurs and 2023 Lakers.

🏀 NBA trivia

Spurs guard Stephon Castle went from No. 4 pick to Rookie of the Year.

Question: Who were the three players taken ahead of him in last year's draft?

Hint: Hawks, Wizards, Rockets.

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 New trailer: The Smashing Machine

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson looks almost unrecognizable in the new trailer for "The Smashing Machine," an upcoming film based on the life of UFC legend Mark Kerr, who was the subject of a 2002 HBO documentary of the same name.

Watch the trailer.

Trivia answer: Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Reed Sheppard

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