One of the main reasons for the initial demise of the XFL was its relative lack of funding. The low amount of initial startup funds plagued the league from the beginning and forced them to offer low salaries and no insurance benefits to players. Founder Vince McMahon is taking precautions to ensure the new iteration of the XFL is much more successful, and is spending a lot more money according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.
Rovell reports that McMahon is planning on spending $500MM over the first three years of the league. A lot of the money will be going to player and coaches salaries, and the league is planning on paying players a base salary of $75,000 with stars earning a lot more. Rovell also hears that it’s significantly more money than the rival upstart AAF has raised. It should be interesting to watch how these two new professional football leagues continue to battle it out.
Here’s more from the football universe:
- Speaking of the XFL and AAF, Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com notes that while the XFL will offer more money, the AAF will be more open ended and potentially provide more opportunities for players to enter the NFL. He also points out that neither league’s salary will match that of an NFL practice squad (Twitter link).
- Oregon State linebacker Bright Ugwoegbu announced recently that he was joining the 2018 Supplemental Draft, and now he’s had his Pro Day. Six teams, the Packers, Seahawks, Patriots, Saints, Bears, and 49ers, attended his Pro Day, where he ran a 4.97 40-yard dash according to DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline (Twitter links). The Supplemental Draft will take place July 11th.
- The NFL announced a while back they were having a very controversial “continuing education” exam for the league’s agents, and now the results are in. Many agents opposed the test, which could strip them of their certification if they failed, but the vast majority passed, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports (Twitter link). La Canfora hears that around 95 percent of agents passed, as only 30 out of 651 failed the exam.
McMahon is going to go broke..
Considering his age, I don’t think he cares too much.
He knows what he’s doing.
Is there any sensible reason that the XFL and AAF didn’t go into business together and pool their resources? You’d think that two small fish working together have a better chance at success
Probably all the egos getting in the way.
Especially if they had a championship game against each other.