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If you thought Vince McMahon resurrecting the XFL was wild, take a moment.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and partners just bought the resurrected football league for $15 million.
Just hours before an auction for the league was scheduled to commence, Johnson, his long-time business partner Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital swooped in and purchased the league, according to Sportico.com.
In 2018, McMahon launched a new company, Alpha Entertainment, to pursue a number of potential entertainment endeavors as well as a potental relaunch of the XFL. The original XFL launched in 2001 as a joint venture between NBC and WWE, existing for one season before shutting down. This version of the XFL was birthed coming out of an ESPN 30For30 documentary about the rise and fall of the 2001 failed version of the league, This Was The XFL.
That documentary ncluded footage of McMahon and NBC Executive Dick Ebersol discussing their memories of their partnership in the league over dinner and the idea of launching it today. During those discussions, McMahon admitted that he had "recently" had talks with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about the idea of a "minor league NFL." The Director of that documentary was Charlie Ebersol, Dick's son, who later approached McMahon with the idea of purchasing the XFL rights and resurrecting the league.
Instead, McMahon did it himself while Ebersol went on to form the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which launched after the 2019 Super Bowl and folded within months. The AAF launched in February 2019, one year before the XFL's planned 2020 kickoff. Despite having a broadcast agreement with CBS, the AAF League almost immediately ran into cash flow difficulties, requiring a new $250 million investment, which made Tom Dundon the new majority owner. Dundon later made the decision to shut down the league, leaving the XFL's goal of becoming a new alternative football league unencumbered while also spotlighting the dangers of such a business launch.
As it turned out, XFL 2.0 shut down just weeks into its first relaunched season due to COVID-19. Although initially, the XFL promised to return next year, TV deals with ABC/ESPN and FOX in hand, it instead went into a quick bankruptcy, issuing the following statement at the time:
"The XFL quickly captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people who love football. Unfortunately, as a new enterprise, we were not insulated from the harsh economic impacts and uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, we have filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This is a heartbreaking time for many, including our passionate fans, players and staff, and we are thankful to them, our television partners, and the many Americans who rallied to the XFL for the love of football."
Right before the bankruptcy, the league fired its Commissioner, Oliver Luck, who responded by filing a lawsuit against Vince McMahon over his departure. That lawsuit is still making its way through the court system.
In the meantime, Dwayne Johnson, who as The Rock appeared before the initial version of the XFL cutting promos to put the league over, is now in charge of the entire resurrected version. With his star-power and clout in Hollywood, it will be interesting to see what shape the future of the XFL takes...but one thing is for certain, at some point, in some form, the XFL IS coming back, yet again....
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