Will Ryan Reynolds Pay $200m for a Basketball Jersey?

Should Ryan Reynolds buy a basketball jersey from Vancity Original for $200 million? He’d be a silly fool to let the chance slip away!

The streetwear house just challenged everyone’s fave multi-hyphenate mogul to pony up. It’s part of a publicity push designed to build buzz for an NBA franchise in Vancouver. Vancity’s pitch to RR, who already co-owns British soccer squad Wrexham, suggests that he might enjoy purchasing a team closer to his hometown.

We’re recruiting a team of billionaires to help get an NBA team back in your favourite city. We’d love your support too. Join team #VANBACK@VancityReynolds pic.twitter.com/unMJ6xRdqK

— VANBACK (@teamvanback) June 26, 2023

Vancity made 15 VANBACK jerseys. They’re priced at a combined $30 billion—the average valuation of an NBA franchise. One such team, the Grizzlies, left Vancouver for Memphis 22 years ago.

“We’re hoping this initiative will help get Vancouver back on the radar as the perfect city for a future team,” offers Vancity founder Jeff Martin. “We’ve got the fans. We just need some billionaires to help us out.”

We’re not sure Ryan’s a billionaire. Yet. Even so, that $337.5 million he reportedly made in the Mint Mobile deal must be burning a hole in his pocket right about now.

And it says a lot about the power of Reynolds’ celebrity that he’s getting name-dropped to generate headlines. (It worked with Muse, that’s for sure!)

“We want to contribute to the city,” says Zak Mroueh, founder and creative chairman at Zulu Alpha Kilo, which created the campaign. “We’ve seen how basketball culture has grown with the Raptors’ success and think Vancouver deserves that shot again too. It’d be amazing for the city and Canada to have two teams up north.”