Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are expanding their overseas sports portfolio.
The actors-turned-sports-owners, along with actor Michael B. Jordan, are part of a group of investors who bought a $220 million stake in Formula 1’s Alpine Team, according to Deadline. Formula 1 has announced Reynolds’ involvement.
Reynolds, McElhenney and Jordan are said to have made an investment through Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Investments, which will own a 24% stake in the F1 team alongside Otro Capital and RedBird Capital. The majority of the team, now valued at around $917 million, will still be owned by French automaker Renault.
This obviously won’t be Reynolds and McElhenney’s first foray into the sport, as the two bought Welsh football club Wrexham AFC in 2020. Hulu subscribers might know what happened next, as the The ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ streaming show documented the pair’s experience. lead a small club from fifth-tier mediocrity to promotion contention.
Wrexham lost out on a promotion spot in their first season under Reynolds and McElhenney, but were granted a move to the EFL League Two Fourth Division with a league championship in their second season earlier this year. It was a dominating performance in the National League for Wrexham, who led the league in spending and posted a record 111 points going 34-9-3.
Reynolds makes the move after trying to buy a stake in the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, which were sold earlier this month for nearly $1 billion.
Jordan also has experience with British football, as he has a stake in Premier League club Bournemouth.
What is Alpine F1 Team?
Owning an F1 team will obviously be a very different animal to owning a football club, whether first or fifth tier.
With Alpine, the trio of actors buy a team that reached the top of the mountain, winning F1 titles in 2005 and 2006, but have settled into the mid-table in recent years, which has also view to change brand from Renault to Alpin.
Alpine has not finished outside of fourth to sixth in the F1 Constructors’ Championship since 2016, while running through a driver field that included Fernando Alonso (who won the Drivers’ Championship with Renault in 2005 and 2006) , Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer in this time frame. Its history dates back to 1977, with Renault enjoying further success as an engine supplier.
There was also a bizarre drama with Alpine last year, when it announced that Oscar Piastri would be one of its drivers in 2023. Piastri very publicly pleaded not to be okay.
The team ended up with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly as current drivers. The pair are currently back to back in the drivers’ standings, with Ocon (29 points) in eighth and Gasly (15 points) in ninth, while Alpine sits fifth in the constructors’ standings. Ocon is responsible for the team’s only podium this season with a third-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix.