Actors and Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have bought a minority stake in the Liga MX side Club Necaxa, Variety and Sportico reported on Monday.
The pair join celebrity minority owners actor Eva Longoria, Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, model Kate Upton and NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
It’s unclear what role the RR McReynolds Company will have with Necaxa, though it’s expected that the pair will bring many of the hallmarks that have made the Welsh club Wrexham into a worldwide brand, including a potential docuseries akin to Welcome to Wrexham, pending rights issues with the Club Necaxa’s broadcast partners.
Liga MX, Mexico’s top flight, was the biggest soccer draw in the US up until 2023. The Premier League has since passed the Mexican league as the most-watched league in the US, but Liga MX continues to draw TV figures similar to the biggest Premier League matchups. The 2023 Apertura final between América and Tigres drew the same number of viewers as a Premier League game between Manchester United and Liverpool in the same season, both attracting 2.3m viewers in the US.
With the growth of the Premier League, Liga MX now sits second in the US viewership rankings, ahead of the of the Bundesliga, the German top flight, and Major League Soccer.
Club Necaxa, based in Aguascalientes, is more than 100 years old. Americans Al Tylis and Sam Porter led a group that bought 50% stake in the club in 2021 and in 2022, other investors joined for a stake worth more than $200m, per the reports. Reynolds and McElhenney are joining as part of that group, according to Sportico.
Since the McElhenney-Reynolds takeover in February 2021, the pair have contributed to worldwide attention for Wrexham. The FX show, which has had two seasons with a third series to air in May, has earned five Emmys including outstanding unstructured reality program.
The club was promoted to the League One, English soccer’s third division, earlier this month after a 6-0 win over Forest Green. “A few years ago, if you told me I would be crying tears of joy over a football match taking place in north Wales, you would be Rob McElhenney,” Reynolds wrote on X after the club secured promotion. “Congrats to Wrexham and to my co-chairman in crime. Double up the town! This is the ride of our lives.”
It was the club’s second promotion in two years under the ownership of Reynolds and McElhenney.
Wrexham recently announced a preseason tour of the US in July. They will play Bournemouth in Santa Barbara on 20 July, Chelsea in Santa Clara on 24 July and the Vancouver White Caps on 27 July.
