Rob Mac interview: Wrexham co-owner on potential USMNT vs Canada World Cup game and why he can’t wait for 2026-27
For Wrexham co-owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds, there is a World Cup scenario where their respective home countries, the U.S. and Canada, meet in the knockout stages.
It’s a mouthwatering prospect even before factoring in the venue for this potential game of the ages, the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, home to the San Francisco 49ers and also where the acting duo’s club Wrexham faced Chelsea a couple of years ago in a pre-season friendly.
A lot has to happen in the opening fortnight of the tournament to turn this into a round-of-32 reality, including Mauricio Pochettino’s U.S. side finishing top of a group featuring Paraguay, Australia and Turkey, and then Canada claiming third place in their own group containing Bosnia & Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland.
Nevertheless, a first meeting at a World Cup finals between two old sporting foes separated by the longest shared border in the world is not beyond the realm.
“Yeah, Ryan and I will be watching that together,” says Philadelphia-born Mac with a smile when asked by The Athletic about a potential match-up that would pit the two men who have piloted Wrexham through the leagues to their highest ever league finish against each other.
“But silent. We won’t be speaking with each other.”
Crikey. Maybe then, we suggest with tongue ever so slightly in cheek, it might be best for Wrexham’s long-term future if the U.S. and Jesse Marsch’s Canada avoid each other when the World Cup gets under way next month?
The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star laughs, before adding: “I don’t see us falling out. We were just talking yesterday about the summer and next season. We text each other four times a day and talk once a week.
“We figured out that over the six years (since joining forces to try and buy Wrexham), we have only disagreed once. Not like a huge disagreement. We listen to our advisers and the answers are pretty clear.”
Mac is speaking in partnership with Enterprise to promote the firm’s On Every Corner campaign, where fans in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France and Spain have the chance via X and OnEveryCorner.com to win a vehicle every time a corner is awarded during the World Cup.
He’s looking forward to the tournament and plans to attend several games near his home in Los Angeles. The July 19 final in New York is also in the diary along with possible fixtures in Mexico, where he and Reynolds hold a minority stake in Liga MX club Necaxa.
“The biggest tournament in the world,” says Mac, whose purchase of a then struggling non-League club alongside Reynolds in February 2021 helped boost football’s profile in North America.
“You can feel a difference in the U.S. this year than previous years. A lot of that is down to playing (the tournament) in North America. And a lot of that has to do with the exposure global football has gotten, just in the last four years — never mind the last eight.
“It’s a real exciting time in this country for the sport.”
As enticing as the upcoming World Cup feels right now, Wrexham remain very much at the forefront of Mac’s thoughts.
Not only is the fifth series of Welcome to Wrexham under way on both sides of the Atlantic, but there’s also the planning involved in trying to ensure the club’s upward trajectory of recent years continues when the 2026-27 season starts on August 15.
Manager Phil Parkinson is looking to strengthen a squad that finished seventh in the Championship, only missing out on the play-offs when held to a 2-2 draw by Middlesbrough on the final day.
Since the start of their tenure, Mac and Reynolds have made a point of not getting involved in football matters, instead leaving that to others at the club such as Parkinson, chief executive Michael Williamson and director Shaun Harvey. But they are continually kept across the hunt for new signings after previously agreeing budgets with Williamson.
Rob Mac with Phil Parkinson, who has managed Wrexham during their rise from the fifth tier to the Championship (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Away from transfers, there’s plenty more going on in Wrexham, with the steel frame of the new Kop stand being erected and the club hosting five matches in the UEFA Under-19s European Championship between June 28 and July 11.
Then comes the club’s third tour of the U.S. in four years, this time taking on Leeds United in Tampa, Liverpool at Yankee Stadium in New York and Sunderland in Philadelphia.
“I don’t want a couple of weeks off,” says Mac when asked about how relentless life must be owning Wrexham. “I love it. I’m excited. I certainly try and give Phil space. As we do all season. We make zero football decisions, as you know. We just stay out of it.
“Whenever I speak with Phil, even during the season, it’s usually just personal. See how he’s doing and see whether he needs any help or assistance talking to the guys. Again, as you know, we speak to the players quite a bit but it’s never about tactics, football or anything like that.
“They are young men who are living in the spotlight. We’re used to that, even though we are old men now. At one point we were their age so know what it’s like to live like that. Sometimes we can be helpful in that regard.”
Welcome to Wrexham, of course, continues to provide the biggest helping hand to the club. Thanks to the global spotlight provided by the show, turnover soared to £33.35 million in the most recently published accounts for the 2024-25 League One promotion season.
Club insiders estimate income in the campaign just finished has risen further, to between £46-50million, hence the documentary recently being commissioned for another three series being such positive news.
As the current series reaches the halfway point this week, Welcome to Wrexham has again delivered — particularly in the opening episode featuring the family of Bailey Jones, a Wrexham fan who died in 2023 at the age of just 20 after suffering a bleed on the brain.
Parents Jamie and Ann-Marie gave permission for his organs to be donated, which a couple of years later led to Matthew, the recipient of Bailey’s heart, joining the couple as Wrexham hosted Derby County.
There surely can’t have been a dry eye in houses on either side of the Atlantic when dad Jamie laid his hand on his son’s heart during the closing stages of the match.
“It was never really a show about sports,” says Mac. “It was never a show about football. It was a show about the working class. A love letter to the working class, where people could see themselves reflected back in this town in north Wales.
“It didn’t matter if you lived in North America, South America, Asia, anywhere in Europe; you can find working-class people. All we wanted to do was give them the spotlight and give them an opportunity. And see what they would do with the opportunity.”
One big challenge for those working on Welcome to Wrexham must be how the ending isn’t known until just a few weeks before broadcast. With that in mind, we ask about the recent ‘Spygate’ scandal that saw Southampton booted out of the EFL play-offs for spying on opponents Middlesbrough before their semi-final first leg.
Mac clearly has no intention of embroiling himself in someone else’s controversy, replying: “Have you heard about this promotion being done by Enterprise… he coyly quipped! We will let that one play out.”