Hollywood comes for Formula One
F1’s Alpine brings in storytelling consortium
Hot on the heels of Wrexham’s fairytale promotion back to the English football league, Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny are making a new foray into the world of sport.
The pair are among a group of investors buying a 24 per cent stake in Formula One team Alpine, the Renault-backed racing franchise, though it’s unclear how much money the two actors are actually putting in.
The incoming shareholders include RedBird Capital, owner of AC Milan, and a new offshoot called Otro Capital run by former RedBird executives. Creed-star Michael B. Jordan (a minor investor in Premier League team Bournemouth) and Main Street Advisors are coming in too.
The valuation of $900mn marks a new high for F1 and puts it on a par with some big European football deals.
The price has been pushed up by F1’s booming popularity in the US, and also the sport’s new spending caps that have put a lid on costs.
Netflix series Drive to Survive may have set the wheels in motion, but with F1 recently adding both Miami and Las Vegas to its global line-up of host cities, the sport is laying down some long-term foundations stateside.
Reynolds clearly has an eye for a good investment (read our profile of him here). He sold his Aviation Gin brand to Diageo for $600mn, and T-Mobile is awaiting approval to buy Mint Mobile in a deal that would net the Canadian actor around $300mn. Both those wins are partly thanks to the marketing savvy deployed by Maximum Effort, his agency.
In announcing the stake sale, Alpine made it clear what it was after: partners who could build a global audience with smart campaigns. RedBird is trying to do that with AC Milan, selling Italy’s fashion capital alongside its football team.
Reynolds and McElhenny have successfully done it too — albeit on a different scale — with Wrexham. The little Welsh club now has 1.4mn followers on TikTok and close to 1mn on Instagram, while the team will play Manchester United and Chelsea on its upcoming US tour.
That’s all thanks to Welcome to Wrexham, the Disney TV show fronted by the two actors.
Alpine hasn’t won an F1 championship since 2006. But one lesson from Wrexham is that a team doesn’t have to be good to attract big sponsors and global fans. It just needs a good tale to tell, ideally to a new, untapped audience.
The challenge now for the investors in Alpine will be coming up with a compelling storyline in a sport that is seriously lacking in twists as Red Bull leaves everyone else in the dust.