Dwayne Johnson, Investor Group Purchases XFL For $15 Million … Saving The League From Bankruptcy

Dwayne Johnson, Investor Group Purchases XFL For $15 Million … Saving The League From Bankruptcy

Actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his investor group have made a major move in the sports industry after purchasing the XFL for $15 million, saving the league from bankruptcy.

ESPN reports that the purchase comes four months after the XFL declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-April. For the past several months, the league has been searching for someone to buy the league. Now, they have a buyer. Dwayne Johnson, along with his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, and RedBird Capital Partners reportedly plan to bring the league back to life.

Although divorced, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia have worked together for over a decade. She currently serves as his business partner and manager. She confirmed the news on Instagram.

For The Love of Football
For The Love of The Athletes
For The Love of The Fans
@XFL
#Owner

Johnson retweeted Dany Garcia’s post with a sweet message. He tweeted:

In an official statement, Dwayne Johnson stated:

“The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Dany 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.”

Prior to Johnson’s purchase, XFL had seen two short seasons. The first one came in 2001, then earlier this year (2020), due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

XFL president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Pollack stated in a statement that the ensuing purchase is  “a Hollywood ending”. He also mentioned that Johnson and his investor group are “a dream team ownership group and the XFL is in the best possible hands going forward.”

It was previously reported that XFL had denied Colin Kaepernick attempts to play for the league because of his salary demands.

On February 9th, the XFL commissioner spoke to reporters on the league’s interest in signing the controversial former San Francisco 49ers quarterback turned activist. Reports mentioned that the commissioner Oliver Luck says the league approached Colin Kaepernick, but “significant salary restrictions” ultimately resulted in both sides going their separate ways.

He stated:

“We gave it some thought. We have some pretty significant salary restrictions, you know. We’re a start-up league, so we want to make sure that we can be fiscally responsible and fiscally prudent. And the salary requirements that some folks shared with us were, in our case, exorbitant, so we couldn’t go down that path.”

He added:

“We spoke with his representative and the salary requirements that were broached in that conversation were exorbitant and certainly out of our range.”

Do you think Dwayne Johnson can turn the XFL around? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.