Is Buying A Soccer Team A Smart Investment? Actors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney Invest In Welsh Club

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are the latest celebrities to become owners of a pro sports club, agreeing to acquire an English soccer club. While dozens of A-listers have some stake in a professional team, the two actors will be more involved than most.

Reynolds and McElhenney are purchasing Wrexham AFC, which is based in Wales. Wrexham AFC, which was founded in 1864, is a fifth-division soccer club, putting it four tiers below the English Premier League, the world’s most popular soccer league. The club plays at Racecourse Ground, a stadium with a capacity of 10,771.

It isn’t costing the duo much to take over the club. In fact, Reynolds and McElhenney are actually paying no money up front, according to Sportico. Instead, they plan to invest at least $2.64 million into Wrexham AFC while using their influence to grow the club’s popularity.

Last week, Reynolds and McElhenney said they planned to make a documentary about the club. It’s expected to be similar to HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which goes inside an NFL team’s training camp each year.

“These are two very successful people who have done great things on-screen and some great things off-screen,” said Spencer Harris, the club’s director, via Sportico. “They’re really interested in taking something with real potential, which this club has, investing in it, molding it and watching it grow. That journey is their ultimate motivation, and part of what they want to do is document that journey as they go. But I think it’s more about that journey.”

According to Harris, the club usually generates between $1.98 million and $4.22 million in annual revenue. Wrexham AFC could lose at least $395,000 this year because of the pandemic.

The club could see a big boost from the new owners. Reynolds’ net worth has grown in recent years, as the “Deadpool” star has seen his net worth grow to around $150 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and after he recently sold Aviation Gin for $610 million.

McElhenney hasn’t experienced the same type of box-office success as Reynolds, though Celebrity Net Worth estimates that the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star has approximately $50 million to his name. McElhenney created the sitcom and is married to co-star Kaitlin Olson.

The move by Reynolds and McElhenney comes after a well-publicized failure from baseball star Mike Piazza to turn around a soccer club in Italy. Piazza in June 2016 purchased A.C. Reggiana, a club in Italy's third-tier. After two years, the club declared bankruptcy.

Indeed, owning a sports team can be a risky proposition. There are often problems drawing fans and raising revenue.

Bill Yates, a Texas-based senior partner of Sports Advisory Group, told the Wall Street Journal that buying a team is like buying art.

"If you sell, hopefully it’s worth a lot more than what you paid for it," Yates said.

In a report by the Observer in 2015, John Moag, chairman and CEO of Moag & Company, an investment banking firm that has consulted in pro sports sales, warned of the problems of trying to sell a club.

“If you get yourself in a situation where you want to liquidate soon—whether from a divorce or whatever—you can’t just go to the marketplace and get the value of your share,” Moag said. “You’ll get a full realization of your share when the franchise is being sold, but it’s a lot more difficult getting value out of that when the team isn’t being sold.”