Apart from being a talented actor and one of the funniest people on social media, Ryan Reynolds is an extremely intelligent entrepreneur. He has many successful ventures, including and not limited to Mint Mobile, Aviation Gin, and a production/marketing agency called Maximum Effort. However, his most recent and most talked about undertaking is the football (soccer) club Wrexham AFC.

Reynolds co-owns this club with his friend Rob McElhenney, best known for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Recently, Joe Pompliano, the founder of Huddle Up, took to Twitter and illustrated why buying Wrexham was “a genius move” by Reynolds and McElhenney.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney hit the masterstroke with Wrexham AFC

Here are some facts. Wrexham AFC is the third-oldest football club in the world. The team belongs to the 5th division, which is fairly low when one considers the English Football Pyramid. This means the odds of the team actually entering the Premier League are extremely poor. Considering the above information, this purchase might seem a foolish one to some people. However, Joe Pompliano explains point by point why it is a great move in reality.

Compared to American sports, investing in English football has many advantages since it is a “global game.” It even has “lower valuations” than American sports like NFL and NBA. No wonder several clubs in the Premier League are owned by Americans. Granted, the club is situated in “a blue-collar town” over 25 miles outside city limits, but it was a calculated business decision. As the club is fan-owned, Ryan and Rob arranged a zoom meeting with the 2000+ club owners.

It was then that the two offered “to invest ~$2.5m in the club’s players and facilities.” To gain the trust of the fans, they even signed a “25-year stadium lease in Wrexham,” ensuring that the team stays on the home ground. However, it was the docuseries called Welcome to Wrexham that tipped the scales in their favor. Narrating “the team’s journey back to prominence,” the show resulted in a complete turnaround for the club. 

Wrexham AFC after the FX documentary

With “a 97% audience score,” the renewal was a second season was inevitable. Additionally, the 8-episode docuseries made close to “$3.2 million in revenue.” Apart from that, Wrexham AFC ranks number two in the National League. There has also been a great increase in their social media followers. Their Twitter followers went from 45K to 209K, Instagram went from 27K to 208K and TikTok went from 0 to 459K. 

Today, name firms like TikTok, Vistaprint, Expedia, and Ryan’s own Aviation American Gin are sponsors of Wrexham AFC. Even the club’s ticket sales have increased threefold since 2019. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have managed to take the club global.

“For example, Wrexham’s FA Cup qualifier versus the Blyth Spartans on Saturday will air on ESPN2 & ESPN+.”

This means the reach is close to 100 million households. This venture was not only profitable for the owners, but it turned out beneficial even for the supporters of the team. Pompliano articulately describes it as:

“The perfect example of someone taking a local sports asset and using strategic marketing and creative media to make it global.”

Do you agree with Joe Pompliano? Let us know your thoughts about the Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney-owned Wrexham AFC in the comments.