Teams in League One have spent record amount on transfer fees in the last year due to the influence of the American owners, including those at Wrexham and Birmingham City.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney run Wrexham, while Tom Brady is part of Knighthead Capital's ownership of Birmingham.
Wrexham and Birmingham's spending is added to by that of Mikheil Lomtadze, Wycombe Wanderers' billionaire owner from Kazakhstan, and Huddersfield Town, owned by U.S. businessman Kevin Nagle.
In all, teams in League One -- the third tier of men's professional football in England -- have spent approximately €56 million ($57.8m) on transfer fees this year according to football database Transfermarkt, a figure that exceeds the total of the previous eight seasons combined.
Birmingham, Wycombe and Wrexham sit in the top three spots of the division, with the teams finishing first and second earning automatic promotion to the Championship at the end of the season and the third-placed side entering into a four-team playoff with fourth, fifth and sixth.
Brady became a minority owner at Birmingham in August 2023 when the team were in the Championship before a disastrous season that saw them relegated. Since that relegation, they have been responsible for the three highest fees paid for a transfer in League One's history: €17.8m on former Fulham forward Jay Stansfield, €4.2m on defender Christoph Klarer from Darmstadt and €4m for Willum Thór Willumsson from Go Ahead Eagles.
Wrexham, meanwhile, broke their club transfer record last week when signing Sam Smith from Reading for an undisclosed fee and have been able to fuel their meteoric rise up the football pyramid by using financial muscle to lure players from higher divisions, including the likes of "Welcome to Wrexham" hero Paul Mullin.
Mullin was not signed for a fee but rejected a contract at then League Two Cambridge United in 2021 to join the Welsh club, who were competing outside of the English Football League (EFL) at the time.
Birmingham hold a healthy four-point lead at the top of the table having played two games fewer than Wycombe in second on 59 points. Wrexham are a further four points behind having played the same number of games as Wycombe.