Vince McMahon Could Spend $500 Million Rebooting the XFL
Yes, he’s serious.
If anyone needed proof that Vince McMahon is dead serious about his 2020 XFL reboot here it is: he’s ready to spend enough money to fill a football stadium to do it.
The WWE chairman sold millions of shares in his wrestling empire back in December 2017. Reporting for ESPN, Darren Rovell said Friday that McMahon has quadrupled down and informed investors he’s spending a half billion—it’s all coming from his pocket, too.
Newly-minted XFL league chairman Oliver Luck detailed what that massive mountain of money might cover:
Luck said the biggest cost will be the salaries to pay players and coaches. He said that the average salary for the 40-man rosters will hover around $75,000, with players who are more in demand making much more than that. Players in the first iteration of the XFL, co-owned by McMahon and NBC, paid players an average of $45,000 for a 10-week schedule.
Another significant cost is insurance to cover player injuries.
In a time when more and more attention is being paid to the toll pro football takes on players’ bodies and minds, the last cost may end up being the most significant of them all.
The first time around, the XFL proved to be a flashy and completely doomed idea. Novel and interesting, but unable to pull hardcore pro football fans away from their tried and true favorites in the NFL.
Vince McMahon seems convinced this is the right time to bring it back, obviously. And with that much money coming out of his bank account, it’s a sure bet he’ll work night and day to make it so.