The Rock says XFL to return in 2022
STAMFORD — The XFL plans to resume play in 2022, an announcement that comes about two months after the $15 million acquisition of the Vince McMahon-founded league by a group that includes actor and former WWE superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and an investment firm with Greenwich ties.
This plan announced Thursday by the league would mark the latest reboot of the XFL, which filed for bankruptcy in April after the coronavirus crisis ended its comeback season. The new owners and league executives “are in the process of finalizing next steps for the relaunch with more details to be shared in the coming weeks and months,” according to a statement. A video about the announcement hinted at possible locations, with aerial shots of New York City and Washington, D.C.
“The XFL represents the idea of ultimate opportunity; it’s a league of soul and culture, anchored by the pursuit of dreams and love for the game, that we couldn’t be more proud to lead,” Johnson and business partner Dany Garcia said in a joint statement. “Every XFL player, coach, city and fan is our top priority and we couldn’t be more excited to champion them in an electrifying 2022 season. We are the new XFL — hungry, humble and no one will outwork us.”
Main offices for the XFL are temporarily relocating from Stamford to co-owner RedBird Capital Partners’ offices at 600 Steamboat Road in Greenwich, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Shortly before its April 13 bankruptcy filing, the league suspended its operations and laid off nearly 100 employees who had been based at 1266 E. Main St., on Stamford’s East Side. Yards away are the headquarters of the WWE, where McMahon is also CEO and chairman.
Johnson, Garcia and RedBird all have extensive experience in the sports and media sectors.
RedBird has made a number of sports-focused investments. In July, it announced the acquisition of Toulouse FC, a soccer team in France’s second division.
Its other ventures include an investment in the YES Network — the regional sports network that carries New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, New York City Football Club and New York Liberty games.
Garcia and Johnson, who were married from 1997 to 2008, co-founded Seven Bucks Cos., an enterprise
that focuses on original content for television, film, “emerging technologies” and digital networks.
The acquisition materialized a few months after McMahon said he would cede control of the league that he founded and principally funded.
McMahon’s decision to withdraw from the bankruptcy’s bidding process reflected the contention between XFL officials and the case’s official committee of unsecured creditors. The latter group had suggested the XFL had tried to manipulate the sale of its assets to benefit McMahon, a claim denied by McMahon and league officials.
With the 2020 comeback, McMahon had sought to prove that a non-NFL professional football league could
succeed. The first version of the XFL ran for one season, in 2001.
This year, the league operated with eight teams, including the New York Guardians, who played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
But the relaunched version was short-lived. Two days before the season’s sixth round of games, the XFL announced March 12 that it was suspending play in response to the spread of COVID-19. A few days later, the league confirmed that a player on the Seattle Dragons team had tested positive for the virus. On March 20, the league said that it was canceling the remainder of the season.
Last month’s on-time kick off to the NFL’s 2020 campaign has shown that professional football can be played during the pandemic. But it will face at least one schedule change caused by the crisis: The Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans game that had been set for Sunday was postponed after several Titans players and other staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The newfangled XFL showed considerable promise this year before being sidelined by COVID and then sold,” said Josh Shuart, director of sports management at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology. “Up to that point, they had developed an intriguing long-term plan. Relaunching in spring 2022 hopefully leaves presentday challenges in the rear view. I would never bet against The Rock and Co. Then again, who knows what the media landscape will truly look like by that time.”