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View Full Version : The Rock & Investor Group Purchase The XFL for $15 Million



Kemo
08-03-2020, 04:12 PM
:xfl:


Vince McMahon will not be resurrecting the XFL, but rather, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and partners are the new owners.

The former WWE Champion has teamed up with Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital to purchase the league for $15 million, according to a press release sent out Monday morning.

The entity that purchased the XFL is Alpha Acquico, LLC, a joint venture of The Garcia Companies and Redbird Capital Partners Management LLC. In addition to acquiring all XFL assets, Alpha Acquico will take on “certain specified liabilities” and finance $8.5 million towards any financial defaults from the previous owner.

The Rock said about the purchase, “The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Danny Garcia and Gerry Cardinale, is an investment for me that’s rooted deeply in two things – my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans. With pride and gratitude for all that I’ve built with my own two hands, I plan to apply these callouses to the XFL and look forward to creating something special for the players, fans, and everyone involved for the love of football.”

For The Love of Football
For The Love of The Athletes
For The Love of The Fans@xfl2020 #Owner @TheRock #GerryCardinale

— Dany Garcia (@DanyGarciaCo) August 3, 2020

The XFL was slated to be auctioned today. Johnson’s business partner and ex-wife, Dany Garcia, will also be a stakeholder. RedBird has made various sports-related investments with some of them having ties to the NFL and its players.

McMahon shut down the league just weeks into its first season due to COVID-19. Although the league had TV deals with ABC/ESPN and FOX, the league under the ownership of the WWE Chairman and CEO didn’t survive.

McMahon decided to fold the second attempt at the XFL a few months ago as the pro football league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the state of Delaware.

As of May, it was reported that XFL creditors seemed to believe McMahon was positioning to buy the league out of bankruptcy, but that’s not the case clearly.

Former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck filed a lawsuit against McMahon for wrongful termination. Luck was supposed to get between $20-25 million over five years, which he was promised and it was not contingent on the league surviving. However, McMahon fired Luck the day before he closed the league.