XFL Could Return In 2021

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ROD-BOT

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XFL Could Return In 2021

The XFL just might not be dead yet.

World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon revealed on Tuesday that he is not looking to reacquire the XFL despite recent reports to the contrary. McMahon described accusations that he using Chapter 11 process as a means to cheaply retain the XFL as “inflammatory” and “unsubstantiated.”

“I don’t know why that’s out there, making me out to be the bad guy, [that] I’m going to buy the XFL back for pennies on the dollar, basically,” McMahon said. “That helped me move into the direction of, ‘I’m not going to be a bidder, not going to have anything to do with it.’ I do hope that someone will pay a lot of money for it, and I do hope that it will survive.”

In April, the XFL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly after the start-up league suspended operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Athletic, “dozens of bidders are looking over the league’s financials and interested in relaunching it next February.”

“The Debtor’s investment banker, Houlihan Lokey, is currently in active discussions with dozens of potential purchasers, and substantially all potential purchasers have indicated that the potential for an XFL season in spring 2021 is important to them.”

XFL President, Jeffery Pollack also commented as part of today’s court filing:

f we are to resume playing in 2021, we would need to be in a go mode ideally by August 1st of this year, and I think there is the chance for us to be in a position to play next year, and so doing would, I think, be good for the business on an ongoing basis.”

Since the premature end of the reboot of the XFL, former XFL commissioner Oliver Luck has sued McMahon, the spring season American football league’s majority owner, for alleged wrongful dismissal, a lawsuit McMahon is fighting.
 

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Dozens of bidders in 'active discussions' to buy XFL, restart league for 2021 tournament, per report

Two months after the revived XFL abruptly suspended and then cancelled its inaugural season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the now-bankrupt spring football league may have found new life. According to The Athletic's Daniel Kaplan, the XFL's investment bank is currently in "active discussions" with dozens of potential purchasers who want to fund and restart the league for a 2021 season.

In mid-April, days after laying off nearly its entire staff, the XFL filed for bankruptcy. Owner/founder Vince McMahon said then that he would not try to buy back the league, and he's reiterated that stance in an attempt to refute accusations he used bankruptcy as a tool to purchase the XFL for "pennies on the dollar." With McMahon out of the picture, however, "there is a robust market" for the league, Kaplan reported, not only to fill a spring 2021 schedule but prevent any competitors from seizing on an opportunity to supplement the NFL with additional professional football.

Twenty different bidders, to be exact, have executed non-disclosure agreements to negotiate with Houlihan Lokey, the XFL's global investment bank, according to Kaplan. Six more are in the process of doing so. And all indications are that all potential purchasers intend to try to bring the XFL back onto the turf -- and TV -- by the spring.

"In fact, I understand the Debtor has modeled for 2021 a made-for-TV, 12-week tournament-style approach to its business," Houlihan managing partner William Hardie told Kaplan, "since the XFL is particularly well suited for a crowd-free experience that could thrive in the current environment, given its existing innovations such as in-game audio from players and coaches and live on-screen sports wagering information."

The sales process could run all the way through mid-September, per Kaplan. It's unclear just how much could change about the league in the event of a sale. League commissioner Oliver Luck, who was among the countless layoffs during the XFL's shutdown, recently sued McMahon for wrongful termination after netting a reported $20 million contract to head the league. XFL president Jeffrey Pollack, meanwhile, has reportedly reached out to multiple venues from the league's 2020 season about reinstating stadium licenses.
 

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Vince McMahon RN:

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