American actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought a fifth-tier Welsh soccer club, Wrexham AFC for nearly $2.5 million in November 2020. The takeover deal was completed three months later on 9 February 2021 with the approval of the Wrexham Supporters Trust. Now, the club stands to be one of the fastest-climbing football clubs in terms of global reach and monetary value in the span of one year and one docu-series.
The Ingenious Investment of Ryan Reynolds Pays Off
Wrexham Association Football Club, which boasts of being the third-oldest club in the world, was primarily owned by the fans of Wrexham, and over the course of the pandemic, the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney acquired Wrexham FC after a thorough business planning. The primary reason for the plan’s brilliant success, states entrepreneur and investor Joe Pompliano, is their “creative storytelling and marketing genius.”
According to Pompliano, both actors spent thousands of hours meeting and talking with over 2000 fans and supporters in 2020 before making an offer that detailed their investment of $2.5 million in the club’s players and its facilities. To make it even better, Reynolds and McElhenney “signed a 25-year stadium lease in Wrexham so fans knew they wouldn’t move the team.” Now, the club earns $3.2 million in revenue simply from their docuseries Welcome to Wrexham which brings to the audience a fly-on-the-wall view of the minute-by-minute actions that shape the journey of Wrexham FC from the edge of oblivion to global stardom.
But these facts simply state the accounts of the deal’s economic viability. What makes that investment into a grand success story is a chapter shrouded in shrewd business thinking and the ingenuity of Reynolds and McElhenney’s vision.
Ryan Reynolds Turns Wrexham FC Into a Success Story
A big part of building a success story has always been about shaping audience perception. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney being veterans of the Hollywood industry understood that and consequently put their marketing skills to work beside the already attached fame that came with their names. One of the primary steps toward shaping audience perception was the integration of the club into social media.
With over 850,000 followers spanning Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, the club has now potentially turned this social media boost into a revenue opportunity. Wrexham FC currently holds kit sponsorship deals with TikTok, Aviation American Gin, Expedia, and Vistaprint and their standing in the National League has risen to second place.
All of this works not only to bring fame, revenue, and the opportunity of resurrection for the once-forgotten football club but also exposes the Welsh Town situated within the lowlands of North Wales with its historical colonial architecture and almost surrealistic beauty to a global fanbase and boosts its tourism economy throughout the year.
Welcome to Wrexham after its supremely successful pilot season has now been greenlit for seasons 2 and 3. The docuseries is currently available for streaming on FX/Hulu.
Source: Twitter: @JoePompliano
