Dwayne Johnson Buys the Football League XFL for $15 Million

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson revealed on Monday, August 3, he acquired the XFL. The 48-year-old actor made the announcement on Twitter.

A football league created in 2018 Vince McMahon, chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc (WWE), XFL consists of eight teams competing during a ten-game season.

The league began its inaugural season earlier this year and played five games before canceling e season on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown caused the league to file for bankruptcy and go up for sale.

Johnson was able to buy the league for $15 million before it went to auction, with the help of longtime business partner Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, an investment firm.

"For Dwayne, Gerry and myself, this property represents an incredible opportunity. It is the confluence of great passion, tradition and possibility" Garcia said. "Sports and entertainment are the foundations of the businesses I have built. Melding our expertise combined with our commitment to deliver exciting and inspiring unique content, has us all focused on developing the XFL brand into a multi-media experience that our athletes, partners and fans will proudly embrace and love."

The ex-wife of Johnson, Garcia began managing him after the two divorced in 2007. She created a production company 2012 which was responsible for box office hits including Baywatch (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

Prior to the league shutting down, it drew decent ratings on television and development partnerships with ESPN and FOX.

A previous version of the XFL also played one season in 2001.