One of these days we’ll need to dedicate an episode of Show Your Work to Ryan Reynolds because… he has been doing a LOT of good work over the last couple of years. Ryan has a LOT going on. Multiple film projects which, alone, could keep him full time occupied. But then there’s Aviation Gin which he co-owns and handles a lot of the marketing – and as we’ve all seen, the marketing is excellent.
Speaking of marketing, Ryan runs Maximum Effort a production house that services brands and, well, as they say on the website, the “personal amusements” of Ryan Reynolds. There’s also a cellphone company he’s invested in. Oh and a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that Drake and Ryan were among the celebrity backers of Wealthsimple. I just posted about Drake, the corporation, earlier today. Ryan Reynolds has become one too. And he might be ahead of Drake in one respect: Ryan is a professional sports team owner.
Last year it was announced that Ryan and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC which seemed… random as f-ck. But then again, random is what’s working for them. This week, the first trailer for Welcome to Wrexham was released, a docuseries about the two of them taking over the club and, well, learning how to actually own and manage a football club. It will air for two season on F/X. So, basically, it’s like the real-life Ted Lasso. Which is… really, really smart.
Because of course this will generate interest in the team, build its popularity, and give it a pop culture edge over its competitors. Sports teams make a lot of money off merchandising and this is what they’re going for, in part. Of course they want the team to win but they also wouldn’t mind that between now and whatever championships Wrexham might achieve, their team jerseys become a thing that people covet. And that will attract sponsorship. And sponsorship means you can attract talent. It’s also smart because, of course, Ryan and Rob are generating some production income from the show too.
The trailer for Welcome to Wrexham is exactly what you’d expect from Ryan and Rob and this story considering its origins: here are two North Americans who, on the surface, know nothing about football so it’s a fish-out-of-water situation, with two people who are funny and familiar with fame, pressure, and attention – but not in this setting. How “real” will they allow the show to be remains to be seen. But to go back to the original point about all the moves that Ryan has been making the last few years, I don’t doubt that he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Attached – Ryan and Blake Lively returning home in New York from a walk earlier this week.
