What happens when you take arguably the greatest NFL player of all time and make him an owner of an English Championship football club? We’re about to find out.
In case you missed it, Tom Brady joined Birmingham City FC as a minority owner in 2023. Now, almost 18 months later, Brady has teamed up with Amazon Prime to launch the docuseries Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues, which goes behind the scenes of his involvement with the team.
Can Tom Brady Lead Birmingham to Success?
If things go anything like they did in Wrexham, Birmingham could see some major gains. In 2020, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased Wrexham FC outright, and it’s been an overwhelming success for both the club and the city.
The team climbed from the lowest tier of English football, the National League, all the way to the Championship (the division below the Premier League) in just a few years. Wrexham FC, bought for £2.5 million, is now valued at around £475 million. On top of that, city visitors increased by 21%, generating over £179 million for the local economy.
Brady’s first season with Birmingham didn’t go as planned. The club finished 22nd out of 24 in the Championship, which meant relegation to League One; a rough start for his ownership journey. At that point, his involvement was still brand new.
In the 2024–25 season, the team bounced back in dominant fashion, storming through League One and securing the title with six games to spare, earning promotion back to the Championship for the 2025–26 campaign.
With this season now underway, I’m excited to see how the team performs with Brady more established in his role. I’m even more eager to dive into the new docuseries and get a firsthand look at what his involvement with the club has really been like.