The XFL is back.....

briany wrote: »

I assume that Vince wants to make a success out of the XFL since it failed so spectacularly the last time. That would mean more personal effort and thought devoted to that project. It might even mean, god forbid, being somewhere else on the nights that RAW and Smackdown occur. Yes, we know that if it came to a clash in scheduling, Vince might attempt to book RAW over Skype from a corporate box or dugout, but it's just not that feasible.

If Vince isn't going to put his back into the XFL, why bother? It can't be just a side earner - he has enough money. It has to be about the challenge of it, but to meet that successfully he can't really be dividing his time.

Earmarking a half billion dollars to lose on a project would tend to indicate he's keen yes :D

Monokne wrote: »

Earmarking a half billion dollars to lose on a project would tend to indicate he's keen yes :D

Have to hand it to Vince McMahon. Most septuagenarian billionaires would be happy enough to sit back and let there money work for them. They wouldn't leave the game totally as you usually don't get to be a billionaire by taking it easy, but they wouldn't go out on a limb like McMahon.

briany wrote: »

Have to hand it to Vince McMahon. Most septuagenarian billionaires would be happy enough to sit back and let there money work for them. They wouldn't leave the game totally as you usually don't get to be a billionaire by taking it easy, but they wouldn't go out on a limb like McMahon.

When you look at the original XFL, the WBF, WWF New York, WWE Studios, Stephanie Music, the Sugar Ray Leonard fight in '88, the big Evil Knievel stunt in 84 and now this XFL, it has to be acknowledged that Vince really does have balls the size of grapefruits when it comes to major major financial gambles on businesses outside wrestling.

Stupidity is of course the other side of such bravery but hey, maybe this will be the one that actually pays off.

briany wrote: »

Yeah, his record with ventures beyond wrestling has been pretty abysmal. In fact, based on a cursory look at his other projects over the years, the only thing that you could really say has been a sustainable thing is WWE Studios and most of those movies are straight to video and using wrestlers as the star power.

What's odd is that despite his overwhelming success at promoting wrestling, he's always given the impression that he regards that more of a means than an end to get into something more legitimate and 'respectable'.

That has lost substantial money too. The only thing is movies make moderate income through streaming services etc for years later. I believe a lot of the WWE studios pics are on Tubi which is a free Netflix type deal.

And yes Vince is ashamed of the fact that he's a wrestling promoter and that's the only thing he was ever any good at.

A reasonably strong week 2 in the books for the XFL.

Attendance across the 4 games was 77,000 - first week was 68,000. Most of the jump can be attributed to Seattle which notoriously gets behind its teams. Nearly 30,000 were at Centurylink for their games this weekend.

The network games on ABC on Saturday & Sunday this weekend averaged 2.1 & 2.4 million viewers respectively. Their best number on the first weekend was 3.3 million viewers, but it would never have been expected that they would maintain that number.

For comparison, the AAF last year debuted with 2.9 million viewers in week 1 but only had 1.1 million come back in week 2.

What that tells you is a similar amount of football fans wanted to sample the Spring league, but more of them were impressed by the XFL than the AAF.

It's early days & it's a marathon rather than a sprint but there is the chance this could be sustainable and profitable one day.

That’s a bummer. Was gunning for Vince to succeed here.

Seemed to be getting a decent amount of traction too.

America and sports are an odd enough set up. With so few teams. You'd think with it being so big there'd be ample room for more teams and a league pyramid. Look at the amount of professional football leagues around europe, all with their own multiple leagues to move up and down through.

Though the whole concept of promotion and relegation seems alien to them.

XFL 3 - 2022

From The Athletic:

Is Vince McMahon trying to buy his own XFL out of Delaware bankruptcy court? The XFL’s creditors seem to think so, and sources said XFL president Jeffrey Pollack has called venues in St. Louis and Seattle about reinstating the lease agreements.

The XFL, 80 percent owned by McMahon through Alpha Entertainment and 20 percent by his WWE empire, launched Feb. 7 and lasted five weeks before shutting down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league shut down for good April 10 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy three days later.

But was that just a cutthroat finance ploy by McMahon to ride out the pandemic and resultant economic turmoil without paying the costs of operating the league? That’s what was asked by one former team official, who passed on the tips about Seattle and St. Louis. A representative for Visit St. Louis, which oversees the Dome at America’s Center where the BattleHawks played, confirmed Pollack had reached out about the lease.

When asked about the possibility McMahon may have filed for Chapter 11 protection to restart the league, a spokesman hired by the XFL wrote in an email, “The response to this filing will speak for itself.”

But a committee of unsecured creditors had plenty to say Tuesday in a series of court filings. Objecting to Alpha Entertainment’s proposal to pay $3.5 million in season ticket refunds, the committee wrote, “This is an unnecessary expenditure designed to buttress the Debtor’s argument that an abbreviated sales process is required and is being sought to further the efforts of the debtor’s controlling equity holder/secured lender, Vincent McMahon (“McMahon”), to acquire the debtor at a fire-sale price. … The debtor cannot possibly know at this time whether issuing refunds to season ticket holders will preserve the value of the debtor estate’s or benefit any creditor, other than possibly McMahon.”

In other words, the only reason to pay season ticket holders for games they didn’t get would be to ensure goodwill to McMahon for if and when he returns with the XFL. The season ticket holders are unsecured creditors, so the chances they get paid in an orderly liquidation would be remote.

The committee also questioned why XFL headquarters is still open and executives like Pollack are drawing salaries.

“Any cash constraints on the debtor are solely the result of unnecessary and unwarranted expenditures by the debtor designed to placate the desires of McMahon, such as the payment … in ticket refunds to unsecured creditors by an estate that allegedly may become administratively insolvent; retention of the debtor’s headquarters in Stamford, Conn., which is across the street from the (headquarters) of McMahon’s principal asset, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (“WWE”); employees in that locale drawing excessive compensation rates who are not needed for an enterprise that has shut down; and a bloated cost-sharing arrangement with the WWE that has yet to be explained for unspecified finance and accounting services,” the committee wrote. “The … bid procedures are designed to ensure that McMahon can acquire the debtor at a fire-sale price with third parties having little or no meaningful opportunity to do the diligence required to ensure a fair process.”

Unlike the bankrupt Alliance of American Football, the XFL arguably has intriguing intellectual property assets. The XFL spent over a year developing new rules, many of which, like the kickoff and punt, were so well received some asked if the NFL should adopt them. Even the ball was unique to the XFL.

And in certain markets, like St. Louis and Seattle, the crowds were thick and fan passion evident, a remarkable feat for a nascent league. The teams in markets like New York and Tampa, Fla., struggled (and there was talk of relocating those teams), but many XFL markets fared well.

When the XFL shut down, it had more than 400 employees, including players, many highly paid. Dallas head coach Bob Stoops had a two-year, $2 million contract, and team presidents were earning an annual salary in the mid-six figures.

The employees’ only redress is filing claims in bankruptcy court, other than former commissioner Oliver Luck. Because McMahon guaranteed Luck’s pay, he is suing McMahon for $23.8 million in federal court.

How pissed off will Vince be if The Rock can actually get the XFL over when he couldn't not just once but Twice.

I would have thought 15 million wasn't much.

His ex wife?
Sounds a little strange. The Rock is a multi-millionaire, he's an ex football player and well aware of xfl, it's history, misfortune and potential.

I say this means she'll just be handling the day to day while he will be a silent partner. Shares coming out the wa-zoo as well :pac:

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

His ex wife?
Sounds a little strange. The Rock is a multi-millionaire, he's an ex football player and well aware of xfl, it's history, misfortune and potential.

I say this means she'll just be handling the day to day while he will be a silent partner. Shares coming out the wa-zoo as well :pac:

She actually became his manager business partner and producing partner after they divorced.