When the COVID-19 pandemic led to sports leagues shutting down en masse back in March, the XFL was among those that ended their season for good. Unlike established leagues, the fledgling spring football league didn’t have the infrastructure nor the full enough backing of owner Vince McMahon to be willing to eat all of the losses from ending its first season — even with how successful they were.
And so, the league filed for bankruptcy and went to auction, where there were initially some rumblings McMahon himself might try to re-buy the league. However, in part due to the backlash from that potential plan going public, the WWE chairman insisted he would not be part of the auction process.
We had not heard anything about the XFL auction process since May, but on Monday word broke that while McMahon wouldn’t be involved, the XFL was staying in the WWE family. Former WWE superstar, Miami Hurricanes football player, and currently one of the world’s most popular actors, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, announced Monday that he and his partners at Red Bird Capital had purchased the league.
With my trail blazing partner @DanyGarciaCo & Red Bird Capital, we have acquired the XFL.
With gratitude & passion I’ve built a career with my own two hands and will apply these callouses to our @xfl2020 brand.
Excited to create something special for the fans! #XFL #fullcircle pic.twitter.com/LprJ6HjglD— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 3, 2020
Per Sportico, The Rock and company purchased the league for $15 million and got the deal done mere hours before the league went to auction as the only qualifying bid. Johnson will be an equal stakeholder with Gerry Cardinale as well as ex-wife and business partner Dany Garcia, per Sportico, and as long as it clears through bankruptcy court this week, everything should be finalized by the end of the month.
Getting The Rock on board to be the face of ownership will be huge for the XFL in terms of giving them some star power involved for a restarted second season, whenever that may be. Johnson has immense reach and popularity, particularly with the preferred demographic for a football league, and given the relative success of the XFL’s first season back in two decades prior to the pandemic, there’s plenty to work with once they decide on where and how to relaunch the league.