Oliver Luck and Vince McMahon settle XFL firing lawsuit

A recent court filing revealed that former XFL commissioner Oliver Luck and former league owner Vince McMahon have settled their legal dispute over Luck’s firing in 2020.

Sports Business Journal reported Monday that Paul Dobrowski, Luck’s attorney, had written that “The parties reached an agreement to resolve this case on June 16, 2022” in a filing that sought to permanently seal records related to the quarrel.

McMahon fired Luck in April 2020, one day before the league folded amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Luck sued for wrongful termination, arguing he was owed the remainder of his salary on his five-year contract. He was seeking around $24 million.

McMahon, in turn, argued that he fired Luck for cause. But last February a federal judge threw out most of McMahon’s reasons for firing Luck, per the report.

McMahon’s attempt to revive the alternative football league in 2020 was short-lived, with games unable to be played during the early days of the pandemic. Most XFL employees were laid off on April 10, two days before the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Luck had stepped down as executive vice president of the NCAA in order to serve as XFL commissioner. The father of former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck has also served as the athletic director at West Virginia and the president of NFL Europe.

In April, The Athletic reported that the XFL wanted Luck to repay some of the salary he earned in his short time there, with a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Delaware arguing that Luck’s “compensation was excessive” relative to his qualifications.

The XFL is making another attempt at a comeback next February under new ownership that includes actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. But the new owners, who paid about $15 million for the league, are not part of the legal action related to the former commissioner.