Three former NFL head coaches -- Jim Zorn in Seattle, Kevin Gilbride in New York and Marc Trestman in Tampa Bay -- acknowledged the steep learning curve during the season. New owners would be buying the brand name, intellectual property and, in theory, the benefits of risk reduction afforded by McMahon's initial investment and product testing. According to sources familiar with the process, more than 30 vetted parties have signed nondisclosure agreements with Houlihan Lokey, the brokerage firm hired to handle the sale, that allow them to examine the XFL's internal financial reports. Copyright 2019-2023. Free agency: Tracker | Grades It had projected $46 million in gross revenues for the 10-game season, each data point exceeding internal expectations, according to sources. He also said he wasn't sure whether he would advise owners to buy the XFL or just start their own league from scratch. In that scenario, the teams would practice and play in a single city, probably without fans. The midseason numbers were a mix of modest achievement and mild disappointments. How will Seahawks split carries? The XFL's 2.0 plan called for three seasons of investment and proof of concept before that point would come. Not a lot of free time to go around there. A minor league arguably would have a better chance of making it during football season. BREAKING: XFL Makes Huge Decision Amid Terrible Ratings - Total Pro Sports The average XFL player won't be in for a major payday when play begins in February 2020, according to a report on Friday. Locals were beginning to develop their own traditions, most notably at the Defenders' Audi Field, where fans attached plastic cups into a "beer snake" that even drew the participation of Luck in the team's final home game on March 8. Luck's stature as a former NFL quarterback, college athletic director and NCAA executive -- and the guaranteed $35 million contract it took to lure him -- was the most important symbol of McMahon's commitment to building a serious, long-term enterprise. The BattleHawks catered to fans who had no other professional football team root for, and they were validated at the ticket office. Breaking Down NBC's Ground-Breaking Deal With The USFL & FOX - XFL Newsroom The Wildcats won 41-34 in a game that featured a combined 136 offensive plays and, despite being delayed by a serious injury that required an air cast, was completed in 3 hours, 3 minutes -- shorter than the average NFL game in 2019. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. "What's this email about?" One day, you get a check that combines your salary and accumulated vacation time. This is our new WWE. That includes the CFL.". So players who win the championship would earn an additional $12,000 in salary: $5,000 per playoff game (two) and $1,000 per win (two). MORE:XFL rosters 2023: Complete draft results, team-by-team picks for new football league. And then the pandemic hit the WWE stock, as well.". Ohtani allowed just one run, DirecTV on Tuesday announced some big news for fans of their Red Zone channel. Watch on ESPN+ More . Unsurprisingly, player salaries offered by the XFL pale in comparison to those of the NFL. The 64-year-old manager was not feeling well before the game. Permalink 39 Comments Feed for comments Back to top. Heres What Brittney Griner Reportedly Did On Her Flight Back Home To The U.S. All these people talked up the XFL. Who knows what would have happened, but that was our plan.". We do sports. There were lots of payments to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc for SHARED SERVICES SUPPORT. Johnsons league is coming back for a second season, so you can make the argument that it is already more successful than previous versions. Do you even want fans at the games? Are you trying to make it a streaming product? The XFL's two biggest-market teams, the Los Angeles Wildcats and New York Guardians, actually drew the lowest average attendance figures at 13,124 and 14,875, respectively. "I do hope that someone will pay a lot of money for it," McMahon said in the deposition, "and I do hope that it will survive.". Although many staffers consider the league as they knew it to be shuttered, given the uncertainty of the short-term economy McMahon has put the brand up for sale, and there are strong indications that it will be sold and relaunched under new ownership within a year or two. The XFL filed for bankruptcy about a month after the season was cancelled, and it was set to go up for auction in August 2020 until a group led headlined actor Dwayne Johnson swooped in to buy it out for $15 million. (Former West Virginia safety Kenny Robinson followed that route last spring, playing for the XFL's St. Louis BattleHawks and then heading to the NFL's Carolina Panthers as a fifth-round draft choice.). You wonder if part of the cycle is that people need to come down from it for a while.". A group including actor and former WWE star Dwayne Johnson has agreed to purchase the XFL for approximately $15 million, according to a news release issued Monday morning. Its 2020 television deals with Fox and Disney (ABC/ESPN) covered only production costs. A bankruptcy judge has set a July 29 deadline for formal bids and an Aug. 3 court auction, meaning the XFL could have new owners before the end of summer. But the rest of the XFL workforce was laid off, and players are no longer under contract. All league employees were laid off. Vince McMahon's Reputation Damaged After XFL Bankruptcy - Ringside News getty Unsurprisingly, player salaries offered by the XFL pale in comparison to those of the NFL. If you talked to anybody in the XFL, they would be shocked to know that we weren't going to do this for a long time. When the XFL initially suspended its season March 12, the BattleHawks were selling 6,000 tickets per day. ', "We've grown a tremendous amount of companies from the ground up. Assumptions are that the XFL will do something similar. I was pleased with it.". Could a new iteration of the XFL survive? Building from scratch is an easier and quicker way to top-notch competitiveness than taking over an NFL team and being stuck with 70% of your cap and roster.". That's true even of the revamped XFL, which returns in 2023 to compete with the USFL after the former had its 2020 season cut short amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "It wasn't necessarily the national economy but our owner's economy that played into it. But McMahon's decision to declare bankruptcy, rather than fund the league's prior commitments with money he had set aside for future operations, imposed an additional level of pain. I just think those business models were not realistic. She is also a professional bodybuilder. Garcia said there are active conversations about what a 2021 season would look like, and she noted the success of bubble concepts in the NBA and WNBA, among other leagues. The XFL's restart in 2020 failed for reasons that fell mostly outside of the league's control. Required fields are marked *. He said he would consider rejoining the XFL under new ownership, but "there would have to be a conversation about structure." All XFL games, that includes the regular season and playoffs, to be aired on ESPN and Disney starting in 2023 through 2027. Whaley and Ross' pitch to player agents reportedly include a salary structure wherein players make $5,000 a week, with a per-win bonus of $1,000. We also learned based on the court filings that XFL CEO and Commissioner Oliver Luck was making $192,307.70 every two weeks. It wasnt revealed in February whether players competing in the postseason would earn higher salaries, and as of this writing, theres still no confirmation from the league. Garcia said that diversity and inclusion will be "a relevant and accountable conversation" throughout the league. Many employees, Hunzeker included, had insisted on guaranteed multiyear contracts to leave stable jobs and join what amounted to a start-up company. The XFL's agreements with ABC/ESPN and Fox covered production costs but did not provide a rights fee. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and partners buy XFL for $15 million Using that structure as a guideline, a player on a winless team in the XFL would make $50,000 for the 2023 season. Once a member of the Indianapolis Colts' practice squad, Walker received a recommendation from former Colts starter Andrew Luck, Oliver's son. Attendance at high school football games had increased 20% in St. Louis after the Rams' 2016 departure to Los Angeles, he said. Overall, nearly a third of the XFL's 2020 gross revenue came from St. Louis. With that, The Sporting News looks at how much XFL players can expect to make in 2023, as well as how those salaries compare with those offered by the USFL and NFL. Russell Westbrook leaning 1 way with his future. For its debut season, the XFL mostly pursued players who had been released from NFL training camps or rosters within the past year. The Rock had bought the XFL for $15 million, according. Garcia and Johnson teamed with Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, to submit a bid worth $15 million, plus additional considerations, for the league. Losing the Sunday Ticket package meant DirecTV would, Could Josh Jacobs hold out from the Las Vegas Raiders all the way through Week 1 of the NFL season? Networks will cover production costs.) 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It was so natural. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'xflnewshub_com-leader-1','ezslot_11',131,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-xflnewshub_com-leader-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'xflnewshub_com-leader-1','ezslot_12',131,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-xflnewshub_com-leader-1-0_1');.leader-1-multi-131{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:7px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:7px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:50px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}The XFL gave almost $10,000 to charity through its version 2.0 league. And its surprising that no one has decided to dust off the old NFL rulebook of the 80s and 90s and embrace full-contract, old-school, rough-and-tumble football. "We still don't know that spring football works in this country," said Andrew Kline, founder of the investment bank Park Lane, which specializes in sports investments. McMahon poured more than $200 million into its startup, a process that took two full years, and had committed repeatedly to a multiyear window for proof of concept that would have cost him at least $500 million through three seasons of play. Garcia said she expected all three to be "heavily involved" but also provided a strong endorsement for the executive team that former owner Vince McMahon built. Along with other interesting financial numbers. Garcia said the league is extremely well-capitalized for the long-term, and sources told Young that the XFL is projecting $100 million in revenue next season. That's important, especially when comparing the XFL and USFL, who will compete against each other while recruiting talent to play in their respective leagues. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson part of team buying XFL - CNN But the best team was the 5-0 Houston Roughnecks, led by June Jones and featuring quarterback P.J. I like the speed of play. The committee, in fact, expressed concern about the connections between McMahon, Johnson and Garcia. They have some used football equipment and some trademarks. Any format change would be because of COVID-19. This one had seemed different. "I was like, what the hell is this?" The XFL's shared services agreement with the WWE also had raised eyebrows within the XFL offices, which were regularly interacting with WWE counterparts. Football's Famed Failure: Finances of the XFL | TheRichest All rights reserved. Philadelphia Stars 1 yr. ago ideally yes, it'd be nice to see that happen so we get spring football in more markets but these days I assume it's gonna be more like the Civil War in that it'll pretty much eliminate both sides and merge them into something else. A question that naturally will arise throughout the course of the season is how much the players are getting paid, and on what salary structure. Garcia believes that there is a path to success for the league moving forward, as the XFL has capital commitments in place for years, including sponsorships with Progressive and Under Armor. "Football season is so intense, and it's just associated with the fall season. One reporter thinks that is a possibility. Still, owner Dwayne The Rock Johnson and his partner Dany Garcia remain optimistic about the future. "Because every one of our players were essentially rookies. It's worth noting, however, that McMahon's decision to hire Luck -- a former NFL quarterback and longtime sports administrator -- was the first signal that he wanted to produce serious football. That group was led by president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Pollack, who was among a handful of XFL employees who were not laid off during bankruptcy. As they look back on the three weeks that followed, some former staffers have found reason to question whether that claim was genuine. While that might be true, the state of the WWE can't be ignored when considering McMahon's willingness to continue subsidizing the XFL amid the pandemic. XFL Lost Estimated $60 Million in First Season of Latest Iteration, per Report Mike McDaniel Jun 10, 2023 The XFL rebooted this past spring, with the league year concluding with the XFL. Luck filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, claiming McMahon owes him $23.8 million. NFL Europe, many will recall, helped develop a long list of quarterbacks, including Kurt Warner, Brad Johnson, Jon Kitna and Jake Delhomme. He decided to get checked out instead, The wheels had already fallen off for Alek Manoah this season, and now the rims are starting to come off too. McMahon admitted in a deposition that he considered bidding on the company himself during the bankruptcy process. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Inactive players received $1,500 per game and were also eligible for the $1,000 win bonus. As the entire XFL workforce listened in from around the country, Pollack confirmed the news: All of them had been terminated. We had really just scratched the surface. ", Why Vince McMahon isn't trying to buy back the XFL, Will the XFL make a return under new ownership? said Gabriel, a veteran NFL evaluator who had been hired as the DC Defenders' personnel director. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. We can really put our touch on it.". We break down all the interesting data below. "The end was frustrating but mostly because it was like, 'Damn it, this was going to work,'" said Eric Galko, the XFL's former director of player personnel. Week 1 averaged 1.3 million. In closing, when you see all the breakdowns of where the money went in 2020. "We were on track to be the most successful launch of a new sports league in decades, if not ever, and we are hopeful the XFL can resume that trajectory with a new owner, for the fans and players and for the love of football.". At that moment, Luck and Schwartzstein understood their limits. In 2021, Galko said, the league planned to pursue younger and higher-profile NFL quarterbacks who had been lost in the shuffle. This league was an asset. "And what sucks is that it was working. ", LISTEN: Kevin Seifert on the ESPN Daily Podcast. XFL Lost a Significant Amount of Money in First Year Owned by Dwayne Video. MORE: What does XFL stand for? There hasn't been a successful alternative to the NFL in 50 years, largely because no one has figured out . In December 2019, the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System filed a shareholders lawsuit seeking information about the exact nature of the relationship between WWE and the XFL, and whether McMahon or other senior officers might have diminished the WWE by diverting some of its resources to the XFL. Report Details How Much Money The XFL Lost This Year - Total Pro Sports Were extremely well-capitalized for the long-term, Garcia said. ", In a court filing, McMahon's attorneys blamed the coronavirus for the decision to shutter the league. How do we make it 10 times better? While theres no panic yet from new ownership that features Dwayne The Rock Johnson, the third iteration of the league founded by Vince McMahon in 2001 lost $60 million in 2023 Kickers would get $3,500 per week each, and all other players would make $4,500 per week. TV Schedule, Start Times, and Game Analysis. Stoops was the only coach to crack $1. The XFL operated as a single entity with all teams owned by the league, unlike other professional leagues where individual . Kickoff to that second season was at least 10 months away -- and because of the deepening coronavirus pandemic, maybe longer. The hyper-passionate fan? McMahon, who declined ESPN's interview request, was accused by the bankruptcy's unsecured creditors committee of rigging the process to retain ownership. "We will have the best people in the best positions, and it will be diverse and inclusive and that's how it should be.". Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices. But complaints from the unsecured creditors committee, who accused him of rigging the process to encourage the acceptance of a low bid, prompted him to move on. But once Gabriel watched the kickoff in action, and realized it all but guaranteed a return while minimizing high-speed collisions, he was relieved and impressed. ", Johnson played college football at the University of Miami before joining the WWE and later moving into acting. 0:04. In the end, it does look like the XFL used services from the WWE. Pro Football Network, LLC. Those were moments when you really felt that you were with and knew the players. Five things to know about Donald Trump's USFL experience - ESPN "That's what I think most everyone felt throughout the league. It was revealed how much exactly the start-up league made in 2020, 2019 and 2018. Broadcast fees are the lifeblood of successful major sports leagues, but they take time to earn. (In 2020, the XFL won't receive rights fees for games that are televised. "We knew the AAF was smoke and mirrors," Mueller said. Most notable was a new kickoff alignment that all but guaranteed returns, along with three options for point after touchdown attempts. Now we know what happened. Having a guarantee is something that quite a few people fought pretty hard for. In a rousing statement, he said he got involved because of "my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans." In addition to higher player salaries, the XFL also offered nearly $20,000 per player in additional benefits. eh, probably perrydukejohn New Jersey Generals 1 yr. ago Many spring leagues have tried to establish themselves as a long-term piece of the sports calendar, but just about all have failed. She was surprised by the level of play, appreciative of the attempts to speed up the pace and intrigued by the potential for expanding storylines and providing new access to players and coaches. Setting aside the ethical dilemma of re-introducing brutality and big, dangerous hits into the game, it could be the only way to create a massive live property that is sufficiently different from the type of football to which were all accustomed. "I have no doubt that had we completed the full 2020 season, we would have proved that spring football -- more professional football -- can work," Pollack said. The Rock Buys XFL In $15 Million Deal, 'Creating Something Special' - TMZ Feb 18, 2023; Arlington, TX, USA; XFL owner Dwayne Johnson on the sidelines during the first half between the Vegas Vipers and the Arlington Renegades at Choctaw Stadium. Pollack remains with the league to navigate the transition -- and possibly beyond. The XFL is self-financed by Vince McMahon, who plans to put $500 million of his own money into this. When it comes to spring football leagues (AAF, USFL, XFL, etc. The 45 players on an active XFL roster each week will receive an additional $5,000 game bonus, while the six inactive players will receive an extra $1,500. It's fair, though, to probe deeper into some fundamental questions. I think there is probably some elegance that can be added so that maybe it's not as disruptive. One former staffer estimated Monday that less than 10% of the league's workforce has found long-term employment. The WWE managed to resume content production amid the pandemic, airing a fanless but well-received WrestleMania 36 on April 4-5. Staff reductions or furloughs seemed possible. 3 quarterback in the NFL. This strange part of the XFL's finances was exploited by a . In the short term, of course, that analysis is irrelevant. Sports as a broadcast/streaming product, without the pretense of local fan interest -- and the overhead necessary to cultivate it -- might be the most efficient way to operate in the current economy. The XFL is back for 2023 after a three-year hiatus. How Dwayne Johnson became involved with new football league entering 2023 season, XFL rosters 2023: The former NFL players you'll recognize, from AJ McCarron to Martavis Bryant, XFL rosters 2023: Complete draft results, team-by-team picks for new football league, XFL team names 2023: Logos, cities, more to know about football league relaunch. It was revealed how much exactly the start-up league made in 2020, 2019 and 2018. The XFL filed for bankruptcy about a month after the season was cancelled, and it was set to go up for auction in August 2020 until a group led headlined actor Dwayne Johnson swooped in to buy it. In addition to revamped rules and relocated teams, the upcoming season will launch with new leadership. April 10 was payday at the XFL. Contact him directly by emailing mark.perry@xflnewshub.com. So we might assume for now that the players competing in the semifinals earned an additional weeks salary, commensurate to their normal regular-season salary. This remains the elusive question for spring football. We break down all the interesting data below. Come show teams how many players you are better than. New York CNN Business . So you have to protect your family, you have to protect everything. XFL salaries revealed: Leaked memo details player pay for new league As the XFL wraps up a successful season, and with global superstar Dwayne The Rock Johnson at the helm as co-owner, how did XFL salaries, bonuses, and other perks shake out in 2023? If a league funded by a committed and capable billionaire couldn't make it, what could? There was a lot of great, great work. Copyright 2022 XFL News Hub. Per ProFootballTalk, the XFL and ESPN have announced that next Thursday's game between the Houston. Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News. "But you have to be focused on what you want to be, and not be too disparate in what you're trying to do. Johnson and Garcia were married from 1997-2008 and, to their credit, have remained business partners since their divorce. In addition, it embraced gambling on its broadcasts and its creative social media platforms. Oliver Luck had mentioned in various interviews about the complexity of Workmans compensation in a professional football league. It signed one player, St. Louis safety Kenny Robinson, who still had college eligibility remaining and was subsequently drafted by the NFL's Carolina Panthers. A handful of teams were catching fire in their local markets, most notably St. Louis, where the BattleHawks averaged 28,541 fans per game and had already sold 36,000 tickets for their next home date on March 21 against the Wildcats.
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