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Ryan Reynolds And Rob McElhenney would probably be the first people to admit they didn’t know what they were signing up for when they purchased Welsh soccer club Wrexham AFC in 2020, a decision that sparked a butterfly effect that’s now being linked to a housing crisis in the city the team calls home.
Up until a few years ago, you needed to be a pretty diehard soccer fan to be familiar with Wrexham AFC, which has a history stretching back to the 1850s. The team had spent decades subsisting in the lower tiers of the English football league system before managing to catch the eyes of Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney, who made the bold decision to pay a reported $2.5 million to become its proud new owners in 2020.
It was a very bold move, but one that has seemingly paid off based on what’s transpired since then. After earning a promotion to League Two during a championship season in 2023, Wrexham kept the momentum going to punch its ticket to League One earlier this month, which means the team is now theoretically just two steps away from the Premier League.
Both Reynolds and McElhenney said one of the major reasons they were drawn to Wrexham was the spirit of the city it calls home—a community home to around 45,000 known for the blue-collar ethos that the latter says reminds him of his upbringing in Philadelphia.
While I think most people who reside in Wrexham appreciate what the two men have done since taking over, it appears we have a classic “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” situation on our hands thanks to the unprecedented amount of attention the city has received thanks to The Red Dragons.
According to Yahoo, at least one local housing official has argued the actors have contributed to a dearth of affordable long-term rentals in Wrexham due to landlords who’ve opted to cater to tourists while offering units on a short-term basis using platforms like Airbnb, saying, “It’s what I refer to as the Rob and Ryan effect.”
It’s worth noting the duo was defended by the deputy leader of Wrexham council, who noted “The success of our football club is intrinsically linked to the success of Wrexham” and added the attention the team has received thanks to the the profile of its owners “is of huge benefit to our local economy, especially the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors.”
Have there been some growing pains? Absolutely, but it sure seems like they’re canceled out by the upsides in the grand scheme of things.