You Can Experience ‘Welcome to Wrexham’s Promotion Celebration Like Never Before Thanks to Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny [Exclusive]

After four seasons and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, Welcome to Wrexham‘s big moment has finally arrived. The Season 4 finale of FX’s acclaimed football docuseries finally showed the titular Welsh club’s historic promotion to the Championship, marking the first time any club in the English Football League has earned back-to-back-to-back promotions. Under the stewardship of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, they’ve transformed into a global presence with a renewed energy and an improbable run of success that has made fans’ wishes come true. Now, under a new partnership with Reynolds’s Maximum Effort, Meta is aiming to bring viewers to the field to witness the historic achievement from anywhere. Collider can exclusively share new details and the official ad for the Wrexham AFC x Meta Quest promotion VR experience that whisks viewers to the celebration in Wales.

Welcome to Wrexham viewers didn’t get the chance to see the proper celebration that occurred at Wrexham’s historic Racecourse grounds back in May. Only friends, family, players, staff, and the 8,500 fans in attendance in Wales have directly experienced what went down that day. Meta, however, was also there to capture the sights and sounds of the field, the fans, and the speeches commemorating the promotion for their collaboration. Included through Xtadium, Meta Quest’s hub for watching worldwide sporting events on-demand through VR, the experience gives a full 180-degree view in and around the Racecourse, with six different camera angles for watching the celebration from high in the stands or down on the field with the players. There’s also a director’s cut for viewers to sit back and watch that shows off the immersive tech at play.

The advertisement, which aired directly after the Season 4 finale’s big promotional moment, shows why an experience like this can be meaningful for sports fans. It introduces a fan of Wrexham who was born in Wales but currently lives in Baltimore. With the Meta Quest, he was given the full viewing experience of the celebration, from entering the stadium to seeing the crowd chanting, and watching the speech by Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson. Maximum Effort’s Head of Sports, Ricky Engelberg, hit on how the collaboration fits with both the production company and Welcome to Wrexham‘s aims of bridging gaps and uniting people through the power of sports, saying in a statement:

“Our job at Maximum Effort is to bring people together in fun and unexpected ways. The partnership between Wrexham AFC and Meta Quest allows fans to be transported to one of the most magical places in the world… a promotion celebration in Wales, all from the comfort of your living room. Sadly, we couldn’t figure out how to provide Welsh Rarebit yet through beaming.”

Wrexham’s CEO, Michael Williamson, echoed the sentiment, celebrating the remarkable journey of the club and the joy of community:

“The journey the Club has been on these past few years has been truly remarkable and culminated this past season in a record-breaking third consecutive promotion taking us back to the Championship for the first time in 43 years. For the fans to be able to celebrate that together with the players in our stadium was unique. Now thanks to Meta Quest all Wrexham fans wherever they are can re-live that amazing emotional celebration between the Club and community.”

Meta also touts the new collaboration as a good fit with Welcome to Wrexham because of how it brings fans into the more personal side of the team. Since premiering in 2022, the docuseries has been an all-access look into the Red Dragons, starting by exploring Reynolds and McElhenney’s crash course in football club ownership as newcomers to the league. It not only lets viewers inside the locker room and team offices to see the inner workings of the club, but also the local Turf pub and beyond to give a close-up view of the community and culture that pour their heart and soul into it. Each season gives an off-field view of the challenges the club faces, from financial dealings and PR to other teams vying for promotion with their own celebrity owners like Tom Brady. The journey isn’t over yet either, with Season 5 already ordered to chronicle their Championship challenges and draw even more fans into the fun along the way.

In her own statement, Meta’s VP of Reality Labs Marketing expressed how the new experience feels like a natural continuation of the show, with its intimate view of how the Wrexham community reacts to the promotion. She added:

“We’re committed to pushing the boundaries of immersive storytelling and bringing fans closer to the action. Our Meta Quest partnership with Wrexham AFC is a perfect example – using VR, we gave fans front row access to one of the team’s most intimate moments: their promotion celebration. Our new ad spot airing during Welcome to Wrexham brings that experience to life and shows how VR can let fans be part of these moments they’d normally never get to see. It’s about more than watching – it’s about feeling connected and redefining the way people experience sports.”

The Wrexham AFC x Meta Quest experience is now available through the Xtadium app on Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets. Check out the official advertisement previewing the experience in the player above. All episodes of Welcome to Wrexham are now streaming on Hulu.