Dwayne Johnson, RedBird Capital buy XFL for $15 million

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Can you smell what the Rock is buyin’?

Dwayne Johnson, a former pro wrestler who has become a major film and TV star, is buying the XFL, according to Scott Soshnick of Sportico.com.

Per the report, Johnson teamed up with RedBird Capital and pressed the “buy it now” button, making the purchase only hours before an auction was due to begin. They’ll pay a total of $15 million, splitting the price equally.

It’s unclear when the XFL will return to action, how it will be televised, and where the games will be played. Still, Johnson’s presence gives the league cachet — frankly, even more than it had when owned by Vince McMahon.

For now, we wait for more details about the plans for the reconstituted, for the second time, XFL. But there will surely be more interest in the league with Dwayne Johnson as the owner than there would have been if some faceless venture-capital fund had made the purchase.

34 responses to “Dwayne Johnson, RedBird Capital buy XFL for $15 million

  1. I’ve heard sometimes famous people go broke from making dumb investments. Just sayin’.

  2. That is pennies. Just sit on the equity and sell it later to the next fool that thinks they can bring it back.

  3. You have a lot of catching up to do if you think $7.5 million will bankrupt The Rock.

    —————————————————-
    titans4evr says:
    August 3, 2020 at 10:07 am
    I’ve heard sometimes famous people go broke from making dumb investments. Just sayin’.

  4. Friend: “But you don’t need one.”

    Rock: “Dude, it’s an -entire- -football- -league- for only $15 million!”

    Friend: “But where are you gonna put it?”

    Rock: “My bedroom? Or that one spot in the garage? I’ll MAKE room, man!”

  5. Can you smell what the Rock is cooking….?

    Another failed attempt to create another football league. It just doesn’t work.

  6. titans4evr says:
    August 3, 2020 at 10:07 am
    I’ve heard sometimes famous people go broke from making dumb investments. Just sayin’.

    ————-
    True, but this is likely a drop in the bucket for them. Yes, it would require some more money to get it up and running, but they could take their time and be careful. And, if they lose a little money, he will just need to make a few more movies, and he will still be fine.

  7. Wow, just like the Rock was trying to do on the series Ballers. He actually made it happen. Congrats.

  8. If the owner of the league uses PED’s is it okay for the players to partake?

  9. Dwayne Johnson is smart enough to make this work
    He also will know when to fold up shop and close the doors if it doesn’t
    But he has the resources and connections to make it work
    If they keep politics out of it and individuals protesting etc the NFL fans that are sick and tired of the kneelers they just might start liking the XFL

  10. It’s not a bad speculation for Johnson. At the moment, he’s in for less than half what he makes per movie. He’s just buying the brand and legal rights out of bankruptcy. He’ll have to sign players and sell enough tickets/tv rights to make it profitable. He may well be able to do that.

  11. If they can get this fired up quickly, like by next spring, and sign players who will play in a bubble like the NBA it could work. The pandemic could just be the thing that makes this work.

    There could be a future where we are wearing Project Rock Under Armour gear, sipping Teremana tequila, and watching the XFL…

  12. Am I missing something? What exactly about the Rock inspires people to think he can get the XFL to work?

  13. The thing is, not only does he have the money, but he actually loves the game as well, he played in college as well.

    T’would be cool if he could make it work.

  14. broncosroe says:
    August 3, 2020 at 10:17 am

    You have a lot of catching up to do if you think $7.5 million will bankrupt The Rock.
    ____________________

    The stupidity of this has nothing to do with the up-front investment. That’s just the price of admission. Wait til it becomes a sink-hole and he’s pouring $100M into it just to get one season off the ground.

    Also, he better hope his partners are legit a solid. Last season people were making financial commitments and then backing out.

    All this $15M does is buy these guys the right to spend $200M more to try to get this thing to succeed. $15M is nothing, not even a drop in this bucket.

  15. thinking that 15 mill or even better 7.5 puts a dent in the rocks net worth is hilarious…he won’t do a movie for less than 20 mill and he only makes about 10 movies a year…he made 128 mill in movies alone in 2018, and prob another 50 mill outside of that.. he will be just fine regardless of the xfl’s success of lack there of

  16. titans4evr says:
    August 3, 2020 at 10:07 am
    I’ve heard sometimes famous people go broke from making dumb investments. Just sayin’.

    ——————————————————————————————–
    Yeah I wonder what he will do with the other 312.5 million dollars he is worth.

  17. The stupidity of this has nothing to do with the up-front investment. That’s just the price of admission. Wait til it becomes a sink-hole and he’s pouring $100M into it just to get one season off the ground.

    Also, he better hope his partners are legit a solid. Last season people were making financial commitments and then backing out.

    All this $15M does is buy these guys the right to spend $200M more to try to get this thing to succeed. $15M is nothing, not even a drop in this bucket.
    —————————————————————————————-

    And alot of that upfront money has already been spent. No I not believe that he is only going to be out of pocket the 7.5 he is putting in but I do not believe he will be putting out 200 either.
    I don’t know the tv contracts and all that, but I am sure him being involved gets a lot of the networks interested. Doesn’t he have a show on CBS already? Didn’t CBS have XFL games already? just thoughts.

  18. Thank goodness. I was beginning to think the Rock was lazy only making 10 movies a year. Now he has something to keep him busy on the weekends.

  19. The problem, as always, with these alternate leagues is you need deep pockets to stay in for the long haul. Guys like McMahon always talk a good game, but fold the minute the league hits a rough spot. As I said when he first announced the return of the XFL two years ago, “it won’t last a season”. And it didn’t.

    For The Rock and his partners to succeed, they need to gather a group of team owners who have the resources and the will to take their lumps early. That’s how the original AFL survived and went on to partner with the NFL. Spring football can work, but the audience won’t appear overnight. It’s going to take years and heavy losses to establish a sizable fan base.

  20. The problem with the short lived XFL wasn’t ownership, it was a lack of interest from football fans. The first iteration 20 years ago was a clown show, and the second was just a bunch of NFL has-beens and NCAA never-will-be(s). No viewers = bad ratings = little advertising money = failed league.

    The only shot for this to become viable is to partner with NFL and create the long awaited minor league system. Like baseball, fans can watch players develop and follow them to the NFL. Kids that are tied of being exploited by the NCAA can go the XFL and become semi-professional football players that can get paid for their likenesses.

  21. I’m all for it. The NFL has been kicking the idea of a developmental league around for quite a while. They had one in NFL Europe and it wasn’t costing them a ton.

    If the XFL can launch and stay solvent for a few years, they could have the NFL willing to talk about some kind of support and connectivity.

    IMO, they should find non-NFL areas and play in much smaller stadiums – 10-15k seats. Fill the stands, make it a fun atmosphere. Having 10k fans in a 65k stadium is a bad look, plus you’re paying a premium for a ton of space you don’t need. Give that money to smaller colleges that could use the money.

    Just thinking out loud, but this could work if they keep their goals in check. No one is gonna compete with the NFL, a $15 billion per year monolith. Modest goals, modest successes, you need to give yourself time to build the brand.

  22. It’s a pity that the season had to end early for no other reason than a literal pandemic but it is what it is, I think the Rock could be just what the doctor ordered to infuse life into it again cause when it was on it was getting good ratings. Fingers crossed they re-tool and are ready for 2021.

  23. He could have bought the league all by himself. He gets at least $20 million per movie.
    He’s splitting $15 million 3 ways. Even if the league goes bust again, he won’t end up in the poorhouse.

  24. With the direction the NFL is headed with “social justice”, this actually isn’t a bad investment. It’s fact NFL ratings have been down the past few years since Kaep took his “stance”. Some/many people are looking for an alternative that keeps politics out of football. The Rock is loaded. He’ll be alright. It’s just a small gamble that could payout enormously for him.

  25. As I said when he first announced the return of the XFL two years ago, “it won’t last a season”. And it didn’t.
    —–
    So you predicted the pandemic?

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